Redemption
by Seanchai15
Summary: Finished! Jackson Rippner sucessfully pulled off the Keefe job, but just can't seem to leave a certain hotel manager alone...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: They belong to Wes Craven, Carl Ellsworth, and so on, and the closest thing I own is a Scarecrow doll that I call "Jackson"

Disclaimer: They belong to Wes Craven, Carl Ellsworth, and so on, and the closest thing I own is a Scarecrow doll that I call "Jackson"

A/N: Will eventually be J/L, just so you know. Also, let me know if the switching POV confuses anybody. My first fanfic, so any comments would be VERY helpful.

Jackson Rippner took a sip of his latte, and then resumed trying not to look at the woman across the table from him. Lisa had been giving him looks that made it clear how much she'd like him to drop dead for about fifteen minutes now, but trapped in an airport Starbucks, this had seemed like years. It had started right before they landed, when he'd gone to check that she hadn't left anything on the seat and had felt something along the side of her skirt. Her look of shock and horror as he'd confiscated her "weapon" had passed quickly, and been replaced with the current dagger-stare. Finally, the awkward silence was disturbed by his phone buzzing on his hip. He saw Lisa lean forward slightly at the idea of any news of her father or the Keefes. He decided to tease her for a bit, making sure that his responses revealed nothing of the conversation and hoping to regain some control of the situation. If there was one thing he thrived on, it was control, and it was time this fiery little hotel manager acknowledged and respected that.

"Well?" she asked as soon as he'd hung up. Jackson took another sip of coffee, then thoughtfully rearranged the items on the table. He'd make her beg for even the slightest bit of information- it would be a good way to start regaining some control. "If that was the call that… if that was _the_ call, you need to call off your man _now_. Your part of the deal." She couldn't bring herself to say it, because that would just make everything too real. _I just helped him kill a whole family_. She couldn't let herself dwell on it; she just needed to focus on her father and herself. _It's too late for the Keefes anyway_. She was snapped out of her thoughts by Jackson's sudden response.

"Everything's done. You can go home, back to your boring little job. You'll be busy for a while- I hear it's a mess at the Lux." He didn't wait to let the implications of what he'd just said sink in before adding "Just a little bit more, Leese, and you'll be back with your Dad- you know, he doesn't even have to know what happened tonight. You can just go back to everything the way it was, my little loner." The possessive earned him a glare, but Lisa remained quiet, still trying to absorb everything that had just happened. She forced herself to pay attention as he took out his phone and dialled. The hitman picked up on the first ring and remained silent, just listening to the simple "It's over, get out of there" from his employer.

"Do you need a ride home?" She wasn't sure if he was actually offering or just being condescending, but decided that either way she'd rather walk home than spend any more time with Jackson. She tried to think of something to say to communicate this, but all that she could manage to get out was "No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" That time he was definitely being condescending, but she resisted the urge to claw his eyes out and just stood up to leave, glad when he made no move to stop her. She immediately went to a pay phone, hastily calling her father. The relief at hearing his voice on the other line was overwhelming, and Lisa ended up managing a "Dad, I'm at the airport" before bursting into tears. Right then and there, in the middle of Miami International Airport, she let every emotion that she'd experienced in the past two days flood out. She cried for her grandmother, the Keefes, the fear for her father, her injuries from the flight, even for her own stupidity for being attracted to Jackson back in Texas. Joe Reisert decided that she was in no state to be anywhere by herself, and after reassuring her that everything was alright, rushed to the airport to get his daughter.

Within five minutes, Lisa was wrapped in her father's comforting arms in the airport, and allowed herself to be led to the car as her father repeatedly told her to just relax and she could tell him everything later. She calmed a bit at his reassurance, and ended up falling asleep in her old bed the minute they were back at his house.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I did not gain ownership of them since the last chapter, and it is unlikely that I will gain ownership anytime soon

Disclaimer: I did not gain ownership of them since the last chapter, and it is unlikely that I will gain ownership anytime soon. (Though if Wes is looking to unload some character rights, he should let me know)

Thanks to the people who reviewed- you cannot imagine the squeal of glee I let forth when I saw that people not only read this, but actually took time to review. Thanks for the words of encouragement and best of luck with your own writings!

Joe had planned to let his daughter sleep as long as she wanted, but ran up to get her after seeing the news report: _Bombing at Lux Atlantic kills politician, family_. She ran downstairs, leaving her father in her room, and made it to the living room just in time to hear the report that Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Charles Keefe had died in a massive explosion while staying at the Lux Atlantic, and that while other guests had received only minor injuries, the Keefes and their bodyguards had all perished in the blast. Lisa just stared at the TV, letting the news register in her brain. Jackson getting the call had been so abstract, but now, seeing a picture of the Keefes at some function weeks earlier, it truly sank in. _These people are dead now, and it's all my fault. _Part of her brain tried to convince her that no, it had been completely _his_ fault, but the guilt overwhelmed her. She'd gotten dressed and gone to the hotel to see if she could be of any help, ignoring her father's questions, knowing that if she tried to respond she would start crying and not be able to stop.

She'd made record time to the Lux, and was greeted by a panicked, tear-stained Cynthia. She tried to calm her friend as best she could, but was led away by a police officer asking her to describe the events leading up to the explosion. He clearly thought she was at least partially responsible, and looked highly sceptical as she described Jackson and everything he'd said and done to her. She was driven to the police station, where an official statement was taken, as well as pictures of the bruises on her wrists and throat, which she hoped would make somewhat of a case for her. _I couldn't have strangled myself. _She sat in the station for the better part of the day while various people were contacted to verify her story. She tried to think who could be helpful. _Cynthia heard how upset I was, but she's my friend so they won't listen to her. Maybe the flight attendants- oh, no- they think I had sex with him! Kind of difficult to claim he was attacking me- unless they change their minds when they hear my story. _She was considering her options for lawyers when the man who had originally questioned her returned.

"You're free to go, Miss Reisert. The flight attendants confirmed that all of what you said was plausible, and several of your fellow passengers described your seatmate as "strange" with the exception of one woman, who seemed quite desperate for his phone number." Lisa couldn't suppress a grin at the thought of that blonde woman asking the police how she could contact this wanted killer for a date. "We're on the lookout for the man you described, and if you see or hear from him, call us immediately." She walked out, slightly dazed. _I just came damn close to being arrested for this_. She decided right then and there that she would devote herself to helping find Jackson Rippner. If he was safely behind bars, she could try to get back to a normal life without looking over her shoulder wondering if she was about to be killed all the time. He would pay for what he did to her, and for what he did to the Keefes.

"Jack, calm down. You're fine, nothing is wrong." Jackson stared at the woman sitting across the table from him is disbelief. _Nothing is wrong?! I just told you I'm going crazy- what the hell do you mean, nothing is wrong! _He refrained from voicing these thoughts.

"I'm not fine- I've never had a job stick with me like this before. Only the personal ones, but this isn't personal. It's just some girl, who I used to blow up some guy. But now I can't stop thinking about her. Just the way she looked at me- before work came up. And the way she got all steely after I mentioned her father- it's too much. What the hell do I do now?" Jackson glanced around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with her. He loved his sister, but sometimes it felt like she was more a mother than a sister, giving him advice or scolding him like she knew the ways of the world and he had been born yesterday. But of course, now that he needed her help she was reluctant to answer him. _Come on, please don't make me do this by myself._

Sarah Rippner saw the desperation in her brother's eyes as he begged her to tell him what to do about this girl. Her initial instinct was to tell him to pursue what he wanted, but given Jack's general attitude towards humanity, she feared how he might interpret that. She'd tried her best to stop her little brother from becoming like the father they both had so deeply hated, but she could see his influence in little ways, and had been heartbroken when Jackson had decided to go into a career that would exploit those bits of cruelty in him. Finally, she decided what she could tell him.

"I think there's some part of you that really wants her to forgive you. So I say you should aim for that. Show her that the person on the plane wasn't the real you, and make her see the charming guy we both know you can be." She hadn't meant to sound that corny, but hoped that Jack would get the basic message and stick to it. As she went to leave, she turned back and added "Don't do anything stupid, Jack, and don't get yourself arrested." With that she left, hoping he would take her advice to heart.

Once Sarah had left, Jackson considered how he should go about taking her advice. He couldn't do anything melodramatic- no big moonlit apologies under Lisa's window, no bursting into the hotel to give a dramatic speech in front of her coworkers, and definitely no public declarations of his undying love. It disturbed him that these thoughts even crossed his mind, and he made a mental note that he would not allow himself to see as many movies as he did- they were a bad influence. He settled onto the couch with a book and decided that he'd make up his mind later. He still had time to decide what was to be done about Lisa Reisert, and he wanted whatever he endep up doing to be perfect.

Let me know what you thought- lot of setup here, but it'll get more eventful soon. Just need to get some character backstory out of the way either in the next chapter or the one after it. Also, no worries- the bad boy Jackson we know and love is not gone, just taking a rest for this chapter. He'll be ominous soon, I promise.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: No calls from Wes, so I guess they still don't belong to me and I still can't make any money

Disclaimer: No calls from Wes, so I guess they still don't belong to me and I still can't make any money. Aw, well, I'll just have some fun with 'em for free.

Sorry this chapter is a bit dark, but it's Jackson's background, which we all know isn't exactly full of bunnies and unicorns. I promise it won't be like this all the time.

Jackson had always been sceptical about people who made massive life decisions saying "The answer came to me in a dream." It just made no sense- why listen to the illogical, fantasy part of your brain when you could actually be rational while awake. However, as much as he hated to admit it, his subconscious had struck him with an outstanding idea, and the logical part of him failed to see any flaw with it. He would find out everything there was to know about Lisa Reisert, see if there was anything that made her worth keeping, then kidnap her or kill her, depending on his mood and her worth to him. He'd be punishing her for haunting his thoughts either way, and would either get the satisfaction of knowing he had no reason to think about her or a new companion for a while. It was like getting a dog- you got one, decided if you liked it, and either accepted it into your life or got rid of it. He ran his fingers along his trusty KA-Bar, caressing the metal and revelling in the damage it could do. He could make her scream, beg, cry- do just about anything he wanted her to. He felt a strange joy at the mere thought of that power, the ability to completely control someone else.

He imagined that was how his father had felt. Alan Rippner had held a relatively low-level job in a big company, and had dealt with being ordered around at work by bullying his family. Jackson had gotten the brunt of the abuse, as he did the best in school and therefore was more likely to become like the men his father so despised. One night after a particularly foul encounter with his father's belt that had left the boy bruised and bloody, he'd taken a meat cleaver from the kitchen and permanently ended the abuse, repeatedly promising himself of one thing. _This will never happen again_. He remembered the look on Lisa's face as she'd told him the very same thing, albeit from a different situation, and he couldn't help but wonder if Lisa would have the strength to do what he had done. _Could she just end it all? Take her life into her own hands and make sure no one would ever hurt her again_. He considered the thought for a while, and decided that yes, she could, and he'd better hide all sharp objects if he didn't want to be on the receiving end of that self-preserving rage. _She could definitely take out an attacker, but she wouldn't go as far as I did._ He doubted anyone would have done so, but he'd been in such a state that he gave his mother the same fate as his father, although he did make sure it was much quicker for her, as she'd only let bad things happen to him. Then he'd cleaned himself up, left a note for his sister telling her not to worry about him, and taken off. The company had found him soon after and given him his current job.

He hadn't heard anything from home for years, until he'd gotten a call that there had been an "incident" and he was the only person on Sarah's emergency contact list. He'd rushed home to check on the only person who'd ever truly taken care of him, and found that his sister had been attacked by a man with a knife in a mall parking lot. Some "independent research" (stolen security tapes) had helped him identify the guy, and he'd made sure that he wouldn't put another woman through what Sarah had gone through. That was the first time he took real pleasure out of a kill, the knowledge of his personal vendetta giving him a high as he'd done it. Suddenly a thought nagged at his mind. _Lisa. The same thing happened to Lisa_. He was on his laptop in a flash, and some basic hacking got him into police records, where he checked his theory. The minute the sketch of the suspect popped up, he remembered that face, hideous, snarling, and then finally still. _The bastard doubly deserved it. My poor Leese, I can't wait to see her face when she hears what I did to him. Probably won't mind too much, might even be grateful. _The cold, calculating part of his brain was disgusted that he was thinking like this, but even Jackson Rippner had emotions, and they were going nuts at the thought of Lisa being proud of him, or at least less hateful. He was really fascinated, because for the first time in his life, he had absolutely no idea what would happen.

Lots of Jack here, but next section will be all about Lisa, so we get an image of each of them before the action starts. I've been trying to do a chapter a day, but I'm on a roll here so maybe that will be posted later tonight.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Ahhh- I'm running out of clever ways to say that they are not mine

Disclaimer: Ahhh- I'm running out of clever ways to say that they are not mine!

There's significantly less backstory for Lisa, because we know more about her from the movie than we do about Jackson, but there's some thoughts and explanatory stuff here. (If anyone's confused about time frame w/ Jack, let me know and I'll explain)

It had been two weeks since the red eye, and Lisa's life was slowly starting to get back to normal. Her bruises had healed relatively quickly, and there were no outward signs of the trauma she'd had to deal with. This was a relief, as the lack of scars made sure she was not constantly reminded of the incident. She had not been so lucky two years ago, and was constantly reminded of the pain and humiliation she'd gone through by the scar. She remembered Jackson's face in the bathroom, the look of pity that had flashed through his eyes before being replaced by anger at her lie. For some reason, though, her brain always focused on that little glimpse of emotion, the connection between the two of them for that split second. _He's a killer; I should not be having these thoughts! I should be trying to find him and bring him to justice, not wondering whether he ever cared about me, or if he would have tried to protect me that day, or what his voice would have sounded like if he'd tried to comfort me on the plane, or what his lips would have felt like on mine…_ Lisa sat up, trying to almost literally pull herself out of that train of thought that had so wildly gotten away from her. He was a bad man, and nothing could change that. He'd killed an entire family without remorse and had seemed quite willing to do it again, just to make an extra buck. She wondered what he was doing with all that money. Probably stocking up some kind of arsenal, waiting for his chance to take over the world, or maybe he just kept it all in bank vaults, or lived in some kind of mansion. She had no idea why she cared about what he did with his money, but lately had found herself wondering all sorts of things about him. _Does he have any friends? If he spends all his time stalking people, it's not likely. Pets? Would he be able to have enough affection for something? Maybe he just sits around and talks to himself, like in _Psycho._ And why the hell do I care? _She had tried reading, watching TV, and listening to music, but no matter what she did her mind kept roving back to Jackson. The fact that she thought she'd been seeing his face and hearing his voice for days was the main reason she didn't react more quickly when he stepped out from behind a door, shoved a hand over her mouth, and let out a nearly whispered "Hi, Leese. Miss me?"

Cue dramatic music. Pretty short bit, but needed to just establish that Lisa's brain hasn't been ignoring him and get them together again. The fun starts tomorrow, if (hopefully) I can keep up my daily updates.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: If I say they're not mine, are you going to ask me if I'm sure

Disclaimer: If I say they're not mine, are you going to ask me if I'm sure?

As always, thanks to all who reviewed- you guys keep me going. BTW, lots more dialogue, so hopefully the paragraph breaks and spacing won't be as difficult to read.

Once the initial shock of being grabbed and hearing his voice had passed, Lisa's body went into self-preservation autopilot. Unfortunately, this meant biting the hand that was pressed over her mouth, which led to a slap from Jackson.

"Bad move, Leese. For your own sake, I recommend you get this through your head now: I have complete control over this situation. You are at my mercy, and the less you defy me, the less pain you'll be in." She wondered how long he'd rehearsed that little speech. It sounded forced and practiced, and the idea of him standing in front of a mirror planning how to best intimidate her made the situation a bit less threatening. She did stop fighting him, though, fearing what he would deem a fitting punishment.

"What do you want? Your precious job is done, why are you here?"

"I told you, babe, 'I may have to steal you.'" The combination of his sinister grin, the pet name, and the implication of kidnapping sent a shiver down her spine, and she tried to think of anything she could do to get help. He spun her around so she was facing him, then pulled her close so his lips were almost against her ear as he whispered

"I won't hurt you, Leese, but you need to be a good girl. And that means doing what I say when I say it. So let's go get you packed- I have clothes for you, just get essentials." She numbly followed him up to her bedroom, not seeing any viable means of escape along the way. As she tried to decide what to bring with her that could be at all useful, a thought struck her. _What kinds of clothes does he have for me? Allowing myself to be kidnapped by Jackson Rippner is bad enough, but being dressed like a prostitute in the process means I might need to jump out a window._

"Don't worry, you'll be decently covered. I like my women traditional and classy, not showy- part of the reason I hate being in Miami." The shock on her face at his apparent ability to read minds seemed to amuse him, and she hoped that the glare she'd shot him was as hateful as she'd meant it to be.

Jackson tried to suppress a laugh at the look on Lisa's face when he'd said that. He'd mentioned the clothes because he saw her eyeing her dresser, and while he didn't like it when someone was clearly overdone, he also didn't want her wandering the house in sweatpants. He thought he'd done a good job choosing clothes, getting items that reminded him of the old movies Lisa watched. Simple and elegant, that was the way to go. He found that the '50s movie lifestyle appealed to him, coming home from work to find dinner on the table and his wife and two-point-five kids waiting for him. Being the head of a household and having complete say over what everyone did in it would be wonderful, and the idea of making Lisa into a sweet little housewife was a challenge he would gladly face. _That would be a great revenge, actually. Make her completely helpless, and have her and the kiddies depend on me for everything. Brilliant. She didn't really _do_ anything anyway, I just can't stop thinking about her. Hell, maybe she'll even enjoy this eventually. Lots of women settle down after a pregnancy. _

"I'm done." Her voice from the doorway snapped him out of his daydream, and he whirled around to see Lisa holding a small duffel bag which he rifled through for potential weapons. Finding none, he hoisted the bag onto his shoulder, grabbed Lisa's arm, and headed out for his car. He made sure she was buckled in and the passenger doors were locked before he crossed to his side, climbing behind the wheel.

"It's in your best interest to sleep- it's a long ride." Lisa responded with a little noise that could have meant anything from 'Okay, good idea' to 'Fuck off, I'd rather stare out the window.' From her actions, it seemed to be the letter. She spent about an hour and a half looking like a sullen teen before finally drifting off to sleep. She slept through till their arrival at his house, and he carried her inside, putting her on the bed in the room he'd decided would be hers and leaving her bag on the floor next to her. Before walking out, he gave in to a slight temptation, leaned over her and kissed her cheek.

"Sleep well, Leese, we've got a big day ahead of us." He shut the light and closed the door softly, then headed upstairs to get some well-earned rest.

I'd like to point out that I do not agree with Jackson's rather misogynistic worldview in the slightest, but am trying to write in character and feel that he would be like that. Just wanted to get that out there. Hope you guys liked this bit!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Still not mine, and with each passing day I lose hope of that changing

Disclaimer: Still not mine, and with each passing day I lose hope of that changing.

Reviews are still loved and appreciated- you guys are awesome. Sherlockian, this idea of a Jackson hunt is amazing- we must find out where there is a large population of this rare breed of men to avoid fights among fangirls.

BTW, for those of you who have not seen The Omen, Jackson's joke toward the end is a reference to that. It's basically him implying he is the antichrist.

Lisa woke up in a spacious room that she normally would have described as 'pleasant,' but under the circumstances she decided on just 'nice.' She was on a comfortable bed and alone, which was definitely a plus, as she'd been expecting to find Jackson asleep next to her. She checked the area for him, but he wasn't around, so she decided it would be safe to take a shower and change clothes. After all, she could think better when she was clean and not in her pyjamas. She showered and dressed herself in a plain black skirt and a light blue blouse. The neckline was much lower than she would have liked, as she could see the edge of her scar no matter how she arranged the fabric. _He did that on purpose. I know it. _Finally accepting that there was no way to cover herself and that all the clothes he'd left for her were like that, she set out to find her captor.

Once she got to the first floor of the house, she heard him talking to someone in the kitchen. _Oh, God, let that be somebody who can help me. _ The idea that he'd let anyone who could possibly save her into the house was ridiculous, even to Lisa, but she still let herself hope that something had broken and he needed it fixed. She decided that this was not the case when she heard what he was actually saying.

"Look, she's at the house now, it's a bit late for that. Besides, this is the only way I'm not going to end up in a jail cell for the next ten to fifteen years of my life." He paused, and she guessed that he was on the phone, as there was no audible response. "Don't worry, I'll take care of her." Another pause, then "I just heard something, she's probably up. I'll call you back later, love you, bye." _Oh my God, did Jackson Rippner just tell someone he loved them? Does he have a girlfriend? _Lisa tried to imagine the sort of girl who would willingly date Jackson Rippner, and somehow that image was not one of a woman she figured would appeal to him, or one who would allow him to kidnap a woman and be alone with her for days. _This is getting me nowhere. I just need to walk in, get something to eat, and find a quiet, Jackson-less place to eat it. _

"What's for breakfast?" She tried to sound casual as she strolled into the kitchen, where Jackson was in the process of clipping his phone back onto his belt. "And who were you on the phone with, your girlfriend? Are we having company?"

"Breakfast is whatever you feel like cooking for us, and I doubt my _sister_ would want to mingle with the likes of you."

"The likes of me? What is that supposed to mean? Are you implying that I am the one with bad manners and no morals? _You_ broke into _my_ house and kidnapped me, remember? _You_ killed a family with two young kids, not me! And you know what, maybe your family is socially better than me, but that means they shouldn't even acknowledge that you exist!" She didn't have time to be proud of having finally gotten to him, because within seconds she was being choked against the wall.

"You have no right to even _talk _about my family. I may have given you some rights here, but you are still the hostage, and you still will live by _my _rules. So go get us something to eat. Now." Immediately after he finished speaking, he flung her to the floor and stormed out, leaving her alone in the kitchen. She glanced around helplessly. It was a nice place, bright and inviting, but now it seemed like even the house was mocking her.

Jackson was seething with rage by the time he reached the living room, where he dropped himself onto the couch and tried to calm his breathing. _How dare she? How could she speak to me like that, doesn't she realise what being here means? She is mine; she needs to learn to listen to me. _He ignored the part of his brain that reminded him how he'd completely lost control of himself, something he hadn't done in years. He finally decided to just act like the whole incident in the kitchen had never happened.

Sarah had told him to be good to Lisa, to acknowledge that she would be frightened and uncomfortable and would probably act out of frustration. He'd had every intention of taking her advice, but for some reason he just couldn't help himself from hurting her when that mocking tone came into Lisa's voice. _Does she feel like this when I talk to her like that? Would she be the one choking me if she could? _This thought was cut off quickly by the memory of something his father had told him once. Jackson had come home with a black eye and a bloody lip after an attack from several boys at school, and his father had offered no sympathy, only telling him that in life, the bigger, stronger people dominated the weaker ones, and that was unavoidable. _I'm stronger than Lisa, so by that logic I have a right to be in control of her._ He decided not to question this logic, as it was the only thing keeping him sane at the moment.

"Breakfast is done." He heard the quiet, hesitant tone of her voice and mentally kicked himself. They were back at square one, with her seeing him as an inhuman monster out to kill babies for kicks. He figured that she'd only mock him more if he told her that he actually really liked children, so he saved that bit of knowledge for later. He smirked when he saw what Lisa had prepared. _Scrambled eggs, of course. Does she know how to cook anything else? If not, she'd better learn. I hate eating the same thing all the time. _There was an awkward silence as they ate, and he was surprised when Lisa finally broke it.

"Tell me about yourself."

"What?" She'd caught him completely off-guard, and he struggled for a moment to even comprehend what she had asked.

"You know everything about me; I want to know about you. You know, what was your childhood like, what do you do in your spare time, what do you like to watch or read? That sort of thing." He wondered if she actually cared, or whether she just wanted to get dirt she could use against him later. He decided to give her a not-answer to avoid answering the question or breaking his own strict no-lying rule.

"Let me guess, you want to hear that my nanny hung herself at my fifth birthday party so you can rest assured that I'm a terrible beast and you can have no qualms about finding ways to try to kill me, right?" He waited to see if she would respond with anger or silence, but never did get to find out as the doorbell rang. He saw Lisa perk up at the thought of rescue, and wondered how he could restrain her while he identified the person at the door. He couldn't find anything to tie her up with, so he ended up dragging her with him across the hall. He peered out the window, and then opened the door. _It's not the cops, but this might be just as bad. _He held his breath as his sister entered the house, staring at Lisa, whose arm Jackson still held in an iron grip.

"So this is your idea of a little getaway, hmm? I think the three of us need to talk." Jackson marvelled at his sister's ability to immediately take control of a situation, and obediently followed her into the living room, dragging Lisa behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: If I said they were mine, I feel that Wes would find out where I live and end up sitting in his BMW outside in the dark, listening to a little smooth jazz while he sharpens his 12-inch KA-Bar- that's a knife, guys

Disclaimer: If I said they were mine, I feel that Wes would find out where I live and end up sitting in his BMW outside in the dark, listening to a little smooth jazz while he sharpens his 12-inch KA-Bar- that's a knife, guys.

Much love to all who reviewed. Bexr91 and Maria, I am so glad you liked that bit- I really liked the idea of having someone who completely strikes fear into that place in Jackson where most others would have a heart. The fact that this person is a woman makes it even better. He definitely does need a butt-kicking at this point.

BTW, Jackson's middle name was chosen because it pops up most frequently on the list of Jack the Ripper suspects.

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As the three of them sat around the coffee table, Jackson glared at Lisa. He'd finally had her under control and terrified, and now he was half-expecting her to stick her tongue out at him from her safe place under his sister's watchful eye. Sarah was very protective of women she saw as defenceless after the attack, and Jackson figured that if she found out about Lisa's past, she would promptly kick his ass for tormenting "the poor girl."

"Are you alright, sweetheart? He hasn't done anything to you, has he?" He tried to suppress the urge to snap at Sarah to leave them alone and go home, but he doubted she'd actually listen to him.

"I think so- he slapped me earlier, but I'll be alright." He mentally groaned- he'd never hear the end of it for slapping her- poor defenceless little Lisa, beaten by mean old Jack.

"Are you sure you'll be alright, because… oh my God." Jackson looked up when he heard his sister gasp and saw that her eyes had travelled down to Lisa's scar, which was almost fully exposed. She then turned to him, both sets of intense blue eyes locking on each other. "Jackson, please tell me you didn't do this to her." He shook his head, and when Sarah turned to Lisa for confirmation, she stammered out a reply.

"No, it wasn't him. It was… I mean… two years ago…" Sarah cut her off with a sudden

"I understand. You poor thing, that and now having this happen to you. Jack, go get her some water." He went to protest being made into the slave-boy, but a glare from his sister sent him scurrying into the kitchen. When he returned, he handed Lisa the glass, than was absolutely shocked as Sarah said "Go upstairs Jack, Lisa and I need to talk." _What the fuck? I am the hostage-taker here; I should be calling the shots. I will not just walk away. _He changed his mind when the intense glare was combined with a stern "Jackson James Rippner, go find something to occupy yourself with while we talk." He hated to admit it, but he was a bit frightened of this woman, so he grudgingly headed up to his bedroom, figuring that he had nothing better to do than clean out his closet.

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Lisa was amazed when Jackson actually did as he was told and left them alone. She'd never seen him take orders from anybody before, but this was a welcome change. With him gone, the atmosphere in the room had gotten much less tense. She jumped slightly when the woman across the table suddenly spoke.

"He cares very deeply for you, you know." Lisa felt her eyes bulge. _If he cares for me so deeply, why has he done pretty much everything he's done to me up to this point? She's got to be out of her mind. _"I know you think that's impossible, but he does. And I think part of his anger comes from the knowledge that you don't reciprocate his affections. Jack has always been very guarded about his feelings, but he does have them. And I believe you are the first person in a long time to actually hurt them." _I hurt _his_ feelings?? _Now she was sure this lady was certifiable. She just could not accept the idea of Jackson pining after her like a schoolboy. She decided to actually voice this.

"I sincerely doubt that. He has done nothing but torment me since we met, and it doesn't exactly look like he plans to change anytime soon. I'd say my best bet is to hope he gets bored of having me around and lets me go." She didn't mention the other option if he got bored of her, because imagining her own death would only upset her and would do no real good for anybody.

"Why do you think he brought you here? Why do you think he didn't just leave you alone once his job was done? Lisa, this is the first time in a very long time I've seen Jack care about anything, and I think it's an improvement over his usual self. I think we should encourage this side of him" _What? Encourage a homicidal maniac to continue being obsessed with me for the sake of caring about something? I say let him stay in his existentialist rut. _She was trying to figure out how to say this without testing if the Rippner rage was genetic when her thoughts were interrupted. "My brother will not let you go, Lisa. He would rather kill you. So your options are somewhat limited: you can either accept a violent death or try to accustom yourself to life here."

"Or option three- you can call the police, help me, and get Jackson some psychological help. That seems to work out a lot better for everyone involved"

"It's been tried, and it has failed. I promise you, I will stop by to check on you and make sure he isn't cruel to you, but you have to do your part too. If you set off his temper, I think you've discovered what happens." She gestured at the bruise on Lisa's cheek. "I know you don't think so now, but this is the safest option for you. And remember: I will make sure you're all right, but my loyalties do lie with my brother, and you are not to hurt him. And try not to identify him with the man who gave you that scar. He may have his faults, but Jackson would never force himself on a woman, and I've learned the hard way that it is impossible to love anyone when you don't trust any man. I'm going now; tell Jackson I said goodbye and that I'll call him later."

After she had left, Lisa sat in the living room and tried to process everything that had been said. There was no way she could bring herself to love Jackson, she was sure of that. She also had serious doubts that he had any feelings for her. _Maybe his sister just wants to believe that he's a good person. That must be it. _She took a deep breath and tried to formulate a plan. _I could pretend to fall for him. Then he'd most likely give me more freedom, and I could call for help. I could get him locked up- probably his whack-job sister too. This could work. Hell, in the event he is as dopey-crazy over me as she says, he might_ _accept it if I just go up and tell him I've had a change of heart._ She headed up the stairs with the intention of doing just that, and was surprised to open his door and find Jackson standing in a huge pile of shoes, clothes, and random knick-knacks that had found their way into his closet. He looked completely lost.

"Um, do you want some help with that?" She didn't know why she said it, it had just sort of slipped out. He looked at her with pure gratitude.

"Yes. That would be… very helpful."

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Ahh, next chappie we get introduced to the nightmare known as- Jackson Rippner's closet. For any brave soul who has attempted a closet re-organization, the terror and randomness of the undertaking will be quite familiar.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I already have stopped the guy outside the house, by twice reading these little disclaimers

Disclaimer: I already have stopped the guy outside the house, by twice reading these little disclaimers! You know, if they'd have fallen into the hands of a by-the-book reviewer, she'd have gone straight to , and we'd have been removed! If that happens, Leese, our director in the BMW's gonna know about it, so do the readers a favour and stop gambling with their story!

Ah, the slew of reviews for the last chapter made me sooooo happy! You guys rock!

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After about a half hour of sorting and hanging up suits in silence, Lisa found an item that literally made her jaw drop. She tried not to laugh as she held up the leather pants for Jackson to see.

"Why on Earth would you have these? Please tell me there's a logical explanation." She fought off the mental image of Jackson actually wearing the garment, as it was too bizarre for her to even imagine, and if she could she probably would have laughed, which she was sure would lead to a savage beating.

"They're from a job. The target had some… odd choices of hang-out spots." Lisa noticed his grimace at the memory and figured he was not in mourning whoever that had been.

"Ah, but the question remains- why did you keep them? In case you needed them again?" She smiled in what she hoped was a flirty manner at him. She hadn't actually hit on anyone for two years, and was constantly checking if an action or phrase felt natural.

"Shut up and match shoes." He snapped, grabbing the material away from her. _Oh, someone's in a bad mood. _Looking at the seemingly endless pile of stuff from the closet, she was struck by the difference from everything else in Jackson's home. The rest of the place was neat as a pin. _I guess this is where he dumps everything that clutters the rest of the house. _She noticed that certain items were quickly snatched away from her reach, particularly suitcases and briefcases. Lisa made a mental note to check these while Jackson was asleep. If he didn't want her to have them, they must have had something useful, like weaponry. She obediently matched what seemed like hundreds of plain black dress shoes, wondering what the quickest way to get him to trust her was. She pondered this for a while, sitting on the edge of the bed staring off into space, until Jackson snapped her out of her planning.

"Finished. Finally." There was triumph in his voice, even more so than after he'd gotten the news of his success with the Keefes. The idea that he found a clean closet to be more important than human lives made her sick, but she pushed the feeling away to focus on the job at hand. She took a deep breath before standing and sliding her arms around Jackson's torso. She felt all his muscles tense up as he twisted to face her.

"What the hell are you doing? Let go of me." He tried to detach her from his waist but Lisa pushed closer.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Your sister said you wanted love and affection; I'm giving it to you. You may not have noticed, Jack, but you're a very attractive man." The sick feeling in her stomach grew as she forced the words out of her mouth. _God, if you are there you will make him fall for this and my escape quick and easy. _She noted that Jackson's face was registering pure confusion, and tried to think of something else to say to him. As he opened his mouth to speak, she shocked herself by pressing her lips into his. She felt his muscles relax slightly as he leaned into her and returned the kiss.

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The logical part of Jackson's brain was telling him that this was all an act and he'd better stop her before she got overconfident, but the emotional part overruled the logic and he allowed himself to revel in this moment. He wrapped his arms around Lisa's slender body and pulled her closer into him. She could be about to stab him in the back, but it would be worth it for this one perfect moment. _Wait a minute, what am I thinking? _He dragged himself back into reality and pulled away from Lisa.

"Sorry, sweetie, I don't fool that easily. Thanks for the kiss, though. And Leese, don't ever call me 'Jack' again." He saw the flash of disappointment on her face at his realising her plan before she masked it with ignorance.

"What do you mean? I meant it, I care about you." He saw her stumble over the words and stifled a laugh. _Pathetic, she's a terrible liar. Always has been. _"Jackson, please, believe me." An idea popped into his head and he grinned.

"Okay, Leese, I still don't trust you, but you can prove that you mean that." She cocked her head slightly in response, and he continued. "We can start small. Sleep in my bed tonight." She opened her mouth to object and he quickly cut her off. "I mean that literally. Just lay next to me so I can keep an eye on you. Can't have you sneaking around in the night, now can we?" He saw her mouth twitch slightly before she replied.

"Alright, but you have to promise not to touch me." _Ah, got you, Leese. _He tried to use the sweetest, most innocent voice he could muster for his reply.

"Odd words from a woman who just claimed that she loved me and basically jumped me in my bedroom, don't you think?" He could almost hear her mental swear. She quickly stammered a vague string of words that didn't quite form a sentence.

"Well… I mean… I want to, but… you know… the incident…" He cut her off before her pathetic little excuses could continue.

"I know, honey, I know. But you'll be ready soon enough, and I promise I'll be gentle with you." He revelled in her look of terror at the idea. "So, for tonight we'll just cuddle." He watched in silent mirth as she tried to stop herself from either screaming or running away. However, as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes he felt a pang of guilt and reached for her, determined to comfort her in some way. He was surprised when she did not instinctually flinch at his touch, but relaxed into his arms. He gently stroked her hair and murmured some nonsense to her, and felt her completely buckle as she just cried into his shirt. He sat down on the bed and pulled her close, letting her just cry, and was surprised by how good it felt to know that she could take even a little bit of comfort from his presence. They ended up staying like that, with him holding her and trying to soothe her, for most of the evening.

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See what happens when Lisa doesn't have a bathroom to have a breakdown in? She brings out sweet Jackson, yay!! Don't worry, though, this isn't the end of the feisty Lisa we know and love, or the dangerous Jackson we know and… something that's not quite love but a weird attraction.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Sometimes bad things happen to good people

Disclaimer: Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Like me, for instance, having no ownership of characters I so thoroughly enjoy manipulating.

Glad people seemed to like the last chapter and didn't think anyone was too OOC. As always, thanks and love to all who reviewed.

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After over an hour of just sitting and staring at the wall, Jackson felt Lisa go limp in his arms and saw that she had fallen asleep. He was amazed that she could actually mange this, as he doubted she'd want to blink around him, let alone sleep.

He gently laid her down on the bed, debating what to do about her clothes. She'd be uncomfortable if she fell asleep in the clothes she was wearing, but he figured she'd be more uncomfortable with the idea of him taking off her clothes, even if it was just to put her in pyjamas. He decided to compromise and change her into nightwear without removing her underwear, so she'd know that he had not been indulging his perverted side while she slept. He picked one of his own oversized t-shirts to dress her in, deciding that it would be more natural and homey than a lacy nightgown that he imagined would be irritating to actually wear. _Leese, please don't wake up and freak out while I'm trying to do this. _Jackson's belief in the power of human will (particularly his own) was validated, as he managed to complete the process without waking her. He tucked her in, and then slid into the bed next to her, turning off the light. For a moment he let himself just live in the fantasy of being a normal guy with a normal job, whose girlfriend had come over just for the sake of hanging out and being together. He drifted off to sleep with this idea playing through his mind.

He always woke up early, and was not surprised to find Lisa still asleep. He showered, dressed, and headed downstairs to make breakfast, figuring she would appreciate the treat of not having to cook. He hummed along to the radio as he made pancakes, then sliced some fruit to have along with it. He did not completely trust Lisa, though, so he made sure to lock the knife in a drawer when he had finished. He marvelled at how she could switch so quickly from being insanely angry and fierce to a weeping, docile, almost childlike creature. Truth be told, it scared him a little, not knowing at any given moment whether she'd be trying to stab him or using him as a hanky while she cried her pretty little eyes out. He usually was braced for either one, but had been expecting some gratitude for the breakfast. As a result of this, he was absolutely shocked when Lisa came storming downstairs in what he could only describe as a fit of rage.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why can't you just leave me alone, you son of a bitch?" He stared at her in horror; she was absolutely livid, and shrieking like a banshee at him. She was still in his shirt/makeshift pyjamas, which only covered her to mid-thigh. He would have commented on how great her legs looked, but decided against it for fear of having his eyes clawed out.

"What are you talking about, Leese? I let you sleep in today, and I helped you calm down last night, and look, I made us breakfast." He motioned toward the plates, hoping to pacify her even a little bit. She was clearly ready to kill him, and while he was confident he could overpower her, he really didn't want to try.

"You think a little breakfast makes up for this, you pervert?" she gestured at the fabric covering her body. "You promised you wouldn't touch me, mister oh-so-wonderful, I-never-lie Jack Rippner." It was clear that his tactic of trying to be nice was not working, so he went to plan B: put the fear of God into her. He grabbed both her wrists and pressed her against the counter, making sure that her space was limited enough to make breathing difficult.

"Listen to me. I've been trying to be good to you, which you are not making easy; and may I remind you that first of all, I never promised not to touch you, you said that. Second, I have done nothing but look out for your best interests since you got here- may I point out that I could have done a lot worse to you last night? Also, you will note that I did not move your undergarments, so even visually, you remain unmolested. You, on the other hand, have been nasty and abusive since you got here, and rather insultingly assumed that I was stupid enough to fall for your little show last night. Now, I've made a lovely breakfast, but I don't think you deserve it after this little display, so you can think about what you've done and we'll see if you change your attitude by lunch." As he said the last part, he dragged her back up the stairs, threw her into the guest room she'd spent the first night in, and locked the door.

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Lisa collapsed onto the bed and tried to cry, but found that after her jag last night she couldn't. She could feel bruises forming on her arms where he'd grabbed her, and cursed herself for not planning out the morning better. She'd been horrified when she'd woken up to find that not only had her clothes been changed, but the sheets next to her were warm. She'd been surprised that he even had the nerve to crawl into bed with her, but he had, and her misjudgement was scary. She immediately tried to fix the situation by getting a dress out of her closet to change into. _Did he give me anything styled after the 1950s? I feel like June Cleaver in these things!_

She considered complaining about the clothes, but for the time being, her survival depended on keeping him happy or at least not angry, and if she didn't want to starve to death, she'd need to find some way to convince him to feed her. Hitting on him was out, as he'd already seen through that. She tried to think of another way to get to him. It had only been a day since Sarah's visit, so she doubted that his sister would come and talk some sense into him. Jackson seemed oddly intimidated by her. _What is it about her that makes him listen to her? Maybe it's just that she acts like an authority figure, so he sees her as one. I doubt he'd take that from me. I'd be unconscious on the floor by the second sentence. _

Her thoughts were interrupted as she caught sight of something on the nightstand. _A telephone? Why would he let me have a phone if he's trying not to get caught? _She decided it was worth a try, and was dismayed when picking up the phone led not to a dial tone, but Jackson's still-irritated voice.

"What? You changed your mind and want to play nice now? I'm afraid your time out isn't over yet, but if you apologise and promise to be a good girl maybe you can come down and we can talk about our current… situation." She wanted to kill him for the condescending voice he was using, but that urge was suppressed by the need for food.

"Okay, whatever you say." _Ugh, I hate giving in to him!_

"Leese, I said apologise and promise to be good. I did not hear either of those things just now. So, have we got a deal?" The glee in his voice at having her completely at his mercy was frightening, but she forced herself to form a reply.

"Jackson, I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier, and I promise it won't happen again." She waited for a reply, and when he simply cleared his throat, she tried to think of what else she could say to him. "And I won't hit you or kick you or anything like that, and I'll do chores when you tell me to, and I… I… can't think of anything else."

"Oh, I can, Leese, but for the moment I'll accept that. Give me one second and I'll come get you." She was relieved to be getting out of that room, but disgusted with herself for becoming so weak and giving in to essentially becoming his maid. She heard a key turning in the lock, but her exit was blocked by Jackson standing in the doorway.

"What do you say when someone does you a favour, Leese? Or did Daddy not tech you any manners?" She flinched at the mention of her father. _Dad has no idea where I am! He must be so scared for me right now. _She forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

"Thank you, Jackson. I appreciate being let out." She prayed that he hadn't thought she was being sarcastic, and was relived when he went to move out of her way. Her relief was short-lived, though, as he suddenly turned around, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her in for a kiss. She was too shocked to push him away at first, then thought better of shoving him at all, as it might land her back in that room for the afternoon. She gave in and tried to just focus on the warmth of his lips on hers and not who he was, and was surprised at herself when her instincts took over and leaned into the kiss, parting her lips slightly as Jackson nudged them with his tongue. For a moment, it just felt so wonderfully _right _to be held in his arms, kissing him deeply.

When he finally pulled away, he looked at her curiously as she opened her mouth to speak. She closed it again when he shook his head slightly, then turned and led her downstairs. They sat quietly in front of the TV for a few minutes, then she felt his arm slide around her shoulders, pulling her closer. She rested her head on his chest, and to the casual passer-by, they looked like any young couple in love.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: There are no directors who are assholes, only directors with special needs

Disclaimer: There are no directors who are assholes, only directors with special needs. Like the need to have control over there own characters instead of giving them to me!

Love to my reviewers! Feedback is appreciated tremendously and for some reason the last two chapters had fewer reviews than usual 

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Lisa slowly settled in to life with Jackson. They'd had a few squabbles here and there, but nothing massive, and it had been a full week since the last time he'd hit her. She found that (against her own will) she almost enjoyed his company. After the first few days, charming, joking Jackson from the airport came back, and they sat around and watched movies for pretty much all their waking hours. She had noticed that he still never left her with an unlocked door or anything that could be used as a weapon, but he was not openly hostile towards her, and she counted this as a bonus. She had almost stopped thinking about finding ways to escape, though it did cross her mind every now and then. He completely shocked her one day when he'd randomly asked

"Do you want to call your Dad?" It had been so sudden and so unlike him that for a moment she wondered if he'd actually said it. Apparently he saw the shock in her face as he hastily added "Well, you don't know where we are, so you can't tell him and get me arrested. But you seem unhappy, and I thought maybe if you talked to your Dad you'd feel better. You know, like moral support." She decided that he was serious about this. _Since when do you care if I'm happy or not? What are you trying to do?_ She kept these thoughts to herself and turned to him.

"I would love to talk to my Dad. Where is there a phone I can use?" He showed her the one in his office, then sat at his desk and just watched her, making sure she wasn't getting her father to sick the police on him, probably. Lisa dialled her father's number, still unsure of what she could say to him. He'd be worried about her, and she didn't want to scare him even more, but he would never buy it if she acted like everything was normal and she'd just decided to take a vacation with Jackson Rippner. She listened to the ringing on the other end for what seemed like hours before he finally picked up.

"Hello." He sounded different, less chipper than usual. Feeling terrible for having upset him, Lisa tried to sound somewhat happy.

"Hi, Dad, it's me."

"Lisa?" she heard the excitement in his voice and could picture his face lighting up as he realised that she was alive and relatively well.

"Yes, it's me. I wanted to let you know that I'm alright, so please don't worry about me, okay?" She tried to keep herself sounding as even as possible to avoid raising his suspicions as to whether she was actually okay.

"Leese, are you sure you're alright? Where are you? I called the hotel and nobody's seen you for about a week now. Tell me the truth- where are you?" She decided that there was no easy answer, and she was best off telling him the truth.

"I'm not sure where I am. I'm staying at… a friend's house. He drove us here." _I guess he could loosely be counted as a friend. It's not really a lie. _

"Who? Leese, how come you haven't told me about your boyfriend? Why are you suddenly so secretive?" She wasn't even sure what she was doing before she spoke next.

"I don't have a boyfriend. I'm here with Jackson Rippner. He took me here, but please don't call the police. I doubt that will do any good for anyone." She saw Jackson making a "wrap it up" motion at her. "Look, Dad, I have to go, but I love you and I promise I'll call you again soon." She tried not to cry as she hung up. She felt terrible for putting her dad through this, but she had really needed to hear his voice.

"Leese, it's okay. Your Dad is fine, just sitting at home, doing whatever it is he does with his time these days." She was glad he didn't know what this entailed, as it probably meant no one was watching her father. "Come on, let's go play cards or something." He took her hand and led her downstairs into their living room.

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Jackson had absolutely no idea why he'd let her call her father. In retrospect, it had been incredibly stupid, but Lisa so obviously missed her Dad, and there was some part of Jackson that just longed for the little smile she gave him when he'd first told her she could call home. He'd been studying her lately, almost involuntarily, until he knew every facial expression, every twitch, and could immediately respond to make her feel more at ease. He finally had her at a point where she seemed comfortable with him, and he hoped that she was beginning to see this as her home instead of a prison. _Well, let's hope she does, because Lord knows she's not going anywhere for a long time. _

He'd been planning for weeks, and had decided that tonight was finally the night to put his plan into action. He made Lisa a nice dinner, making sure to refill her wine glass regularly. He didn't want her drunk, but the slight relaxation would do her a world of good. They'd sat and chatted for a while after, mainly about her job and life, as he was unwilling to share personal information and she was quite talkative after the alcohol. He let her talk, guessing that she hadn't spoken to anyone this much in a very long time. He was debating with himself when to start phase two of his plan, but Lisa did it for him, suddenly leaning forward and kissing him deeply on the lips. _This has got to be the alcohol. Although even a drunk woman wouldn't do this to someone she truly hated. And she's not really drunk, she didn't drink that much. _Finally, he just forced himself to stop thinking, returning Lisa's kiss with great passion.

They ended up just reclining on the couch and kissing for a while, until he gently pushed himself up, starting to stand. Lisa looked at him questioningly, then gave a small gasp as he picked her up off the couch and carried her up to their bedroom. _This is a good turn of events. No objections, no screaming, no violence. She can't possibly have drank enough not to notice. _He allowed himself to just marvel in the fact that maybe she wanted this as much as he did. This was confirmed when he lay her down on the bed and she pulled him down to her, murmuring that she wanted him and thought he was handsome and… _oh my God, did she just say she loved me? _

He let her words seep into his brain, and couldn't help a flash of pride. _I made Lisa Reisert fall in love with me even after she swore she'd hate me forever. _His brain decided to leave out that he'd fallen in love with Lisa Reisert after vowing that he hated her, as he couldn't really grasp that. He was in control of his life and his emotions, and that meant that deep romantic relationships were out of the question. It didn't mean he couldn't have fun, however, and he and Lisa both allowed themselves to just revel in instinct and sensation for that blissful night.

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Hope they weren't OOC, just figured that there's only so much time you can be locked in a house with someone and give them the silent treatment, so they'd eventually start talking and developing a relationship. Just decided that you guys didn't need to witness every boring minute of it. (Ohh, the excitement of that time they made lunch! Oh, look, Geraldo's on the TV again! Not exactly stellar material)


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: And for some reason, miss stewardess, this emotionally unstable, rather inebriated director whom I've never met before tonight suddenly went crazy saying they were his when I started writing with them

Disclaimer: And for some reason, miss stewardess, this emotionally unstable, rather inebriated director whom I've never met before tonight suddenly went crazy saying they were his when I started writing with them.

Ahh, the joys of waking up in the morning to find reviews- got my day off to a good start. And never fear, Maria, we'll have an explanation for Lisa's odd behaviour in this chappie

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Lisa allowed herself to just drowse for a few minutes after waking up. Some part of her knew that she was going to be upset when she regained consciousness, so she tried to stave it off by focusing on pleasant things. The sunshine coming through the window, the comfortable bed, the soft sheets, the warm arm wrapped around her… _Wait a second, there's not supposed to be anyone next to me. This must be what I was trying not to think about. _She tried to slip out of Jackson's embrace, but as soon as she moved her tightened his grip on her. He was still asleep, but it appeared his subconscious did not want her to get up.

She tried to piece together what had happened last night. She remembered dinner, then sitting with him and talking about nothing in particular, then she'd been overcome by the urge to kiss him, which had led to a make-out session on the couch, which had led to… _Oh, God, I had sex with Jackson Rippner. _She was angry at him for a second, then remembered her own actions the night before. She had kissed him first, and she knew that she had been telling him that she wanted him at some point in the evening. _How drunk was I? _At least she'd seemed to enjoy herself. From the bits and pieces in her memory, she'd figured that it had been a good night. She couldn't help taking a look at Jackson's sleeping form. He was well-built, muscular but not hulk-like, and she decided that maybe having some feeling for him wasn't that bad. _He's handsome, rich, a good cook, smart, apparently good in bed. A nice catch. Just need to work on that whole psycho-killer thing. _She attributed these thoughts to alcohol lingering in her system and tried to figure out how she could get out of bed and dressed without waking him.

"Morning, Leese." She was startled by his sudden speech, and saw him looking sleepily at her, as if he was also trying to figure out exactly what had happened. "Don't feel like making breakfast, I suppose?" She could hear the slight plea in his voice, and surprised her self by getting up and saying.

"Sure, what would you like?" He shrugged, muttering something about whatever she could find in the kitchen, and reclined against the pillows, watching her dress.

"Leese, thanks. For last night I mean. I know it wasn't exactly what you'd been wanting this whole time, but it was just… really special." He smiled sweetly at her, and she felt herself returning the smile before going to get them something to eat. She wasn't sure exactly what had come over her lately, as she'd been feeling especially calm and composed, and had found that life with Jackson was surprisingly comfortable. She wondered if she was beginning to get Stockholm Syndrome, but decided that it didn't matter, as it was probably better to be in a state where she didn't mind just going along with Jackson and his idea of what their lives should be like.

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Jackson could not have made this go any better if he tried. She'd started to soften up towards him, and he'd helped things along by slipping a mild sedative into pretty much every meal she ate. It wasn't enough to knock her out, but it did keep her in a somewhat calmer, more… suggestible state. It had been working well, but he hadn't anticipated what had happened last night. _Maybe mixing the sedative and the wine was a bad idea. Ah, well, too late now. At least she didn't wake up and freak out. There was no way that could end well. _He laid there for a while, and then decided to check on Lisa.

He found her in the kitchen, humming as she cooked. _We need to get this girl a cookbook. I am never going to want to even see scrambled eggs again after this. _He sidled up next to her, gave her a light peck on the cheek, then went to go set the table. Everything was going exactly as he had planned, but that in itself made him suspicious. Especially where Lisa was involved, things never were this perfect. It unnerved him, and he realised that he had actually been looking forward to watching her break, so the whole 'Okay, whatever you say' attitude was driving him crazy. He would need to take her off the drugs, he figured, to get some semblance of old Lisa back so he could actually have a challenge. Hell, this would be even better, because once she was back to normal he could lord their little tryst over her. _Brilliant. _

The new, modified plan was working well, and he saw Lisa seem almost confused as to why she had been acting the way she was. After about a week, she was completely back to her usual, Jackson-hating self, and at one point he actually caught her trying to pick the lock on the back door with a paper clip. _A paper clip, Leese? I leave you in a house full of stuff and the best thing you can think of is a paper clip? _This amused him to no end, as did the shock on her face when he'd found her, dragging her away from the door and locking her upstairs. This method of punishment was especially effective as it did not leave any bruises, so in the event of his sister popping up there would be no signs of abuse. In fact, Lisa looked quite healthy, so he didn't have much to worry about there.

Jackson was sitting in the living room watching TV when he heard Lisa come in behind him. _If she tries to bash my head in, that is it. I am beating the crap out of her. _He was surprised when instead she came around and sat next to him on the couch.

"Jackson, please, you need to let me go home. It's really important." For the first time since he'd stopped drugging her, there was no anger or hostility in her voice, just an odd vulnerability. He looked into her eyes and saw pure desperation.

"What's the matter? Dad's birthday? We'll send him a card." She flinched at the mention of her father, but seemed to recover pretty quickly.

"No, Jackson. It's just… I can't stay here anymore. I need to go home. I don't see how my being here is of any use to either of us, so why don't you just let me go?"

"Because, Leese, there's always these tender little moments that make me wish I had my camera. The ones where you're not trying to break out or kill me, the ones where you were actually begging me to-"

"Jackson." She cut him off quickly, not caring to think about what had happened between them. "I don't know what was wrong with me there, but I think you do. And whatever you did to me to get me to that point is not happening again, so you need to let me go." He heard the determination in her voice and wondered what could possibly be going on that she suddenly needed to leave.

"Well, Leese, you're not going anywhere, so I recommend you go get some rest. You are clearly not fully with it if you think I'm just going to let you go home and get back to your pathetic, boring life. You're mine, Leese, and you can't change that." He heard her sob as she ran from the room and upstairs.

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Just so you guys know, I may not be able to update over the weekend due to other stuff going on in life, but I am not abandoning this and should have the next chapter up by Monday.


	12. Chapter 12

Lisa slammed the door and locked it, ensuring that whenever Jackson decided to come to bed he wouldn't be able to do so with her

Disclaimer: I just want Wes to see what I'm gonna do to them first. (before admitting they're all his)

Sorry for the update-less time. I am back on a normal writing schedule and should be updating daily from here on.

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Lisa locked the door the minute she got to their room, ensuring that if Jackson decided to go to bed early he would not be doing so with her. She had no idea why she'd been so nice to him before, but was finding that lately she couldn't stand to even be in the same room as him. He still had her sleep in his bed, but she stayed as far away from him as possible and made sure he was fast asleep before even thinking about dozing off herself. No matter how nice he pretended to be, he was holding her hostage and did not deserve any sort of affection, or even basic courtesy.

She was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of the door opening, and immediately opened the bedroom door enough to see who was there, hoping that it was someone who could either get her out or call the police for her. She couldn't help a slight smile at the sight of Sarah Rippner. While she wasn't exactly the saviour Lisa had been waiting for, she seemed to like her, and had promised to prevent Jackson from being overly abusive. The pair downstairs hadn't noticed her peeking out, and she decided to stay in the room until there was word from either of them. The idea of having to explain the issue in front of Jackson was horrific, and she prayed that Sarah would ask for alone time with her like she had on her last visit.

Eventually Lisa heard a knock at the door, and opened it on hearing Sarah's voice. This woman was her only option for any kind of help, so she tried to seem upset enough to warrant a rescue.

"Lisa, it's good to see you again. Jack told me that you two had a little argument this morning. Would you like to tell me what happened?" _Is she our therapist now? What is going on? _Lisa decided to proceed with caution, in case she had misread the situation and Sarah was actually more of a matchmaker for her brother than a helper for Lisa.

"I wanted to go home, he wouldn't let me. It's a running theme here." She saw the look Sarah gave her and knew that she would not accept that answer. "Look, I really need to get home, and I don't see what good it's doing anybody for me to be here."

"Why now? Why are you suddenly so desperate to leave after weeks of living here in relative comfort? And what about you and Jack? He told me that you'd been getting along well, and that you two…" Lisa could see her searching for the right phrase.

"Slept together? We did, but I am pretty sure he either drugged me, got me really drunk, or some combination thereof. Trust me; I was not naturally throwing myself at him." She could hear how defensive her voice sounded, but didn't care. She would not let anyone believe that she had just decided to get involved with Jackson.

"Lisa, tell me what's going on. I can tell that you're hiding something, but that won't do you any good. You need to let me know what's wrong."

"No. You'll tell Jackson, and I really can't let that happen."

"I promise you, no matter what's going on, even if you found some way to get out, I will not tell him. Lisa, I want to make sure you're safe, and that you're not doing anything stupid that'll get you hurt. Please, tell me what's wrong, I promise I won't tell him. You know by now how we Rippners feel about lying." She didn't know why, but for some reason Lisa felt she could trust this woman, and it felt so good to just be able to talk to somebody that she decided to actually answer her.

"I… I think… I think I might be pregnant. It's been a while, since that night with Jackson and… and…" She felt herself tearing up at the idea that she might be carrying Jackson's child. Sarah hugged her, and it surprised Lisa how much she actually was comforted by having someone to confide in.

"I won't tell him, but I think you should. He is very sensitive to feeling betrayed, and when he finds out about this, he will be hurt that you didn't tell him earlier."

"I wasn't planning on him finding out. I need to get out of here and go home. I don't mind being pregnant, but I do mind being constantly reminded of who made me that way. I don't want him raising my baby." She was openly crying now, as the thought of going through all this with Jackson was too much, and all she wanted was some way to just undo the past few weeks.

"I've known him for his whole life, Lisa, and I promise you that as much as you don't believe this, he's a good man. He'll take care of you and the baby, and I think we both know that if you left, he'd find you. And as much as I love him, I don't think he's above taking his child if he decides you're not raising it right. Do yourself a favour, tell him, and let him help you through this." At that point, Lisa decided that this woman must be insane. Not so much about the Jackson kidnapping the baby part, but about the taking care of them part. Her disbelief must have shown, as Sarah added "After what his life was like, he will never let anything harm either of you. I think somewhere in your brain you know that too. Please, just give him a chance." She then walked out, and in a few minutes Lisa heard the front door open and close as she left. She allowed herself a few moments to just calm down, then debated the best way to either get out fast or break the news to Jackson, who she was sure would either be thrilled or furious. She couldn't decide which reaction would be worse.

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I know there was no Jackson bit, but Lisa's was quite long and got a lot out. Kudos to all who called the pregnancy!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: These are very clever characters

Disclaimer: These are very clever characters. Taking some stress management courses? They're really paying off. When we get out of this, I may have to steal them from Wes. (Who still does own them)

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Jackson was becoming increasingly frustrated by Lisa's behaviour. She'd locked him out of their bedroom, and while he could open it with his key, he decided the last thing he needed was to be whacked over the head with a lamp or whatever else Lisa had in there. It had been three days since his sister's visit, and Lisa had refused to come out, and he finally decided it wasn't worth letting her starve to avoid a little pain.

She did not respond when he knocked at the door, but he hadn't really expected her to. He opened it slowly, and was surprised when she did not move from the bed on hearing him enter. _Oh, shit. Please don't let her be dead. A person can't starve in three days, can they? Or did she find something lying around? _He shook her lightly, and was relieved when she rolled over and opened her eyes, staring at him and waiting for him to talk first. He was struck by how pale she looked, but chalked it up to not eating.

"Leese, come on, you need to eat something." She tried to roll away from him again, but he lightly grabbed her shoulder to stop her "What's wrong? You're not yourself lately and…" _Should I say it? Hmm- let her think I'd just leave her like this and confirm that I'm pure evil, or show off a little of her buddy from the airport? _He made the decision quickly. "I'm worried about you. You need to tell me what's wrong and start taking care of yourself, Leese. You're not a baby; I can't be doing everything for you."

Lisa promptly burst into tears, leaving a very confused Jackson wondering what on earth was going on. He held her against his chest and let her just cry, as he had done on their second night together. Finally curiosity got the best of him.

"Leese? Honey, what's wrong? This can't just be homesickness, tell me what's going on so I can help you." He felt her tense at the 'honey', but didn't care- he had much larger problems to deal with. He stroked her hair, trying to get her to calm down enough to talk to him. When it became clear that this was not going to happen, he tried guessing. "Are you sick?" She shook her head. "Is it something back home?" another shake "Is it something with me?" She nodded, and he wondered what could be going on. Finally, she just took his hand and guided it to her lower belly, holding it there for a minute. Jackson felt his eyes widen as he looked down at their hands.

"Oh my God, Lisa, we… you… really?" He tried to decide what to make of this, and finally everything seemed to click into place in his mind- this was absolutely perfect. She was his, and this baby would make that quite clear to her, as well as anyone else who wandered into their lives. His woman, his child, his family- it was all too perfect.

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Lisa was still in shock that she'd actually let Jackson know about the baby. She figured that some part of her brain had acknowledged that she was not going anywhere, and that it would be easier to just tell him and let him do what he would. She had expected him to be angry or at least surprised, so she was completely taken aback when he pulled her close against him and gave her a passionate kiss, brushing tears from her cheeks and promising that everything would be okay.

She still wanted to get away from him before the child was born, but him knowing would make this considerably difficult. She could tell by the way he bustled her downstairs and made her eat a massive breakfast that he was one of those men who would be hovering over her through everything, making sure she ate and did everything she was supposed to. When he decided she'd had enough (which was long after she had reached this conclusion) he brought her into the living room and had her recline across the couch. He sat on the edge and moved over so that Lisa's head was resting on his legs. She allowed herself to nap as he sat and watched TV, and when she woke up, she was upstairs in bed.

She wandered down and found him sitting on the couch reading, but he immediately put his book down as she came in.

"Leese, I went shopping while you were asleep. I got us some groceries and stuff like that, and got you some reading material." He handed her a copy of _What to Expect When You're Expecting_, handing it over like it was some sacred text. She took it, skimming through pages as he put away the groceries. _He's gone completely crazy. He has officially turned into a scary, uber-controlling, strangely paternal freak. _This was a step above his "homicidal lunatic" phases, but Lisa still would prefer either "normal guy" or "man I never have to see again for the rest of my life."

She went back upstairs and read for most of the afternoon, frightened by the sheer number of aches, pains, and potential complications that she could expect over the next nine months. This added to the thought of enduring them with Jackson around was extremely disheartening, and for a moment she wondered if there was some way to get out of this. She had already found that escape did not seem possible, and the idea of what Jackson would do to her if she found some way to induce a miscarriage was not one she cared to contemplate. Besides, it wasn't the baby's fault that Jackson was its father, and she wouldn't feel right getting rid of it.

When Jackson came up for bed, he didn't speak to her at all while he changed and brushed his teeth. She was surprised after his chattiness earlier in the day, but did not especially want to start a conversation with him. Once he'd crawled into bed and settled beside her, she felt his arms snake around her waist, pulling until she was pressed against his chest.

"Lisa, you know I'll take good care of you and our baby, right? I promise I'll be a good husband and father, just let me. I love you, Lisa. I know you don't believe me, but I do." She felt herself relax into his embrace, and in her drowsy state, couldn't help wondering if marriage to Jackson would be as bad as the idea had seemed.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Ahh, I'm running out of quotes to mangle to say they're not mine

Disclaimer: Ahh, I'm running out of quotes to mangle to say they're not mine!

Many thanks to all who reviewed- some of the mental images of Jackson your reviews conjured up were absolutely priceless!

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Jackson was surprised when Lisa leaned back against him and fell asleep. He'd been expecting some kind of dramatic reaction- either a full-fledged hormone-affected rage attack or a similarly progesterone-based declaration that she loved him too. Sleep was not even in the top ten reactions he'd expected. In a way, though, it was comforting that she trusted him enough to go to sleep snuggled up against him. _Oh my God, did my interior monologue just use the word 'snuggled?' What the hell is happening to me? _He had not expected to be as emotional as he had been. It had just been such a shock, and then the realisation that he could keep Lisa and the baby with him had made something go off in his brain. _Calm down, it's just instinct. You want to protect your young. _Years of managing assassinations had made the logical part of his brain quite good at rationalising any emotions that popped up. _This is biology, plain and simple. You need to keep her safe while she has your baby._

Lisa shifted in her sleep, and he felt her rest her head on his chest, setting off a wave of thoughts that were most assuredly not fact based. _Give it up! Admit you're head over heels for the girl, that you want her love, and set up a nice life for your new family. _This was a tempting idea, but he doubted Lisa would go for it. And honestly, he would have been a bit disappointed if she did. He loved her fiery side, and that she wasn't like all the other bimbos he'd met who either fawned over him or feared him, depending on the situation. He wanted her to be his, but not due to hormones or a moment of weakness. He didn't know what exactly he did want, but he was pretty sure that wasn't it. _Well, at_ _least I have her here for nine months before I have to decide what to do with her._

His thoughts then jumped to the baby. The usual new-father questions had crossed his mind, like would it be a boy or a girl and what would it look like, but there were other things to worry about. How much influence would Lisa have on the baby? It would kill him if she convinced his child that he was a horrible person incapable of caring about anything or anyone. And what would the company think? He knew lots of guys who worked there and had families at home, but none of them were married to former targets, and as far as he knew none of them had to keep their wives locked up for fear they'd take off with the kids, calling the police as they went. Also, he wondered if he was up for this. He knew from watching other people that parenting was difficult, and he wasn't exactly in touch with his fluffy, happy side, so what kind of father could he be? He hated the idea of being distant like his own father, but was pretty sure he was not cut out to be a full-fledged soccer dad who was involved in everything his kids did. _Besides, that's Lisa's job. She stays home with the little ones while I work, and she takes care of them most of the time. _He knew that he was working on ideas that had only really applied in the 1950s, but it was the best plan he had, and fit the "don't let her escape" bill.

He wrapped an arm around Lisa and pulled her close, admiring how she always smelled so good and looked so pretty, even after a long day of stress and arguing. He placed his other hand on her belly and wondered how long it would be before he could feel the baby move. He gently rubbed her abdomen, deciding it was the best way to feel even vaguely connected to his child. He drifted off to sleep feeling especially peaceful.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: "Ma'am, these aren't your characters

Disclaimer: "Ma'am, these aren't your characters." smirk Sure.

Glad people seemed to like the last chapter. Needed some of Jackson's thoughts in here!

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Lisa woke up to find herself lying extremely close to Jackson, with her head on his chest and one of his hands resting on her abdomen. She slipped out of his embrace, hoping he wouldn't wake up. She dressed as quietly as possible. She'd read in the book Jackson had gotten her that she wouldn't need new clothes for a few months, which was a relief- the less she had to think about this, the better. She did have a few questions for him about the pregnancy, though. Like what was he going to do about doctors and ultrasounds and the suchlike? He probably wouldn't risk taking her out in public, but the alternative was absolutely terrifying. The idea of home birth was painful, but the idea of having Jackson or one of his cronies actually perform said home birth made Lisa want to crawl into a black hole.

She glanced over at the bed to make sure Jackson was still asleep before going downstairs. If she was lucky, he had left his phone somewhere where she could get to it. She could call the police, have them trace the location, and get the hell out of here before Jackson even woke up. She tried to think where he could have put it. _It's usually clipped to his belt, so it's probably… oh, crap; it's probably on the nightstand directly next to him. He's a light sleeper, there's no way I could get away with that. _As she attempted to come up with a plan B, she noticed something wonderful. _His computer! He left his laptop on the desk here! _While E-mailing for help was an unusual way to get rescued, it was her best bet. She hurriedly turned on the machine and was thrilled to find that it was not password protected. _Weird, he seems like a security freak. I thought he'd have a hundred locks on this thing. _She was in the process of typing a message to her father when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, threateningly close to her neck.

"Leese, will you never see the pattern here? You try to get away, I catch you, you get upset. Is that really what you want the rest of your life to be like?" She fought the urge to get sick at the idea of being here for the rest of her life. "I'm offering you a good deal here, so why can't you just take it? Besides, if you're a good girl, maybe Daddy can come visit for a while." She froze at the mention of her father. _Would he really let my dad come here? Maybe he'd be able to figure out where this is and get help. _

"What do I need to do for you to let me see my Dad?" She sincerely hoped the answer to this was a simple 'don't run away,' but had a feeling that he would never let her off with such simple instructions.

"Well, Leese, I would think you'd want your Dad to come to the wedding. He could even stay over for a few…"

"Wedding?" Of all the possible things he could have said, she never in a million years would have guessed that. "You want me to _marry_ you? What are you on?" He ignored her and simply replied

"You could either marry me and let Mom and Dad and Cynthia come see you for a bit, or you could stay locked upstairs with no social life until you go crazy and start talking to the artwork. I know which one I'd pick, but it's up to you." She stared at him in shock. Her thoughts were going a mile a minute, but she finally decided that it would be better to have three chances of escape and an annulment than spend at least nine months locked in that little room.

"Fine."

"Fine what, Leese? I want to hear you say it." She glared at him. He was so obviously drunk on power right now it made her want to kill him.

"Fine, I'll marry you if you let me see my family and friends and don't lock me up. That better?" He grinned from ear to ear, increasing her anger at him.

"Oh, honey, this is wonderful!" He swept her up in his arms before she had a chance to smack him away, and kissed her in a sad mockery of the end of a sappy movie. "We'd better make this soon, though," he said as he put her down "a visibly pregnant bride is unbecoming." She marvelled at how he had suddenly turned into such a proper gentleman, but was interrupted in this as he grabbed her hand and slid a ring onto her finger. She gasped as she caught a glimpse of the gorgeous item. The stone was big, but not so huge as to look fake, set in a simple platinum band. Classy, understated, and elegant, just like everything else in Jackson's home.

"Oh God, I… I… don't know what to say." It was true. Her desire to beat him into a bloody pulp was battling with the desire to thank him and kiss him, and somewhere in between was her general consciousness, which was still in 'what just happened?' mode. He smiled and held her against him.

"You don't have to say anything. Just run on into the living room. We have a ton of plans to make." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shut down the computer. She wondered if the newfound plan C made her chances of escape any better.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I think you're not such an honest person

Disclaimer: I think you're not such an honest person. Because I've been following you for eight weeks now, and I never once saw you create any of these characters!

Thanks so much to my loyal reviewers! You guys just make my day- such positive feedback makes me sooo happy!

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Jackson followed Lisa into the living room and found her sitting on the sofa looking awkward and uncomfortable. He decided to add to this by flopping down next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, hugging her against his side.

"So, I've never done this before and I'm pretty sure you haven't either, so I took the liberty of getting some books on event planning." He tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, deciding that if Lisa saw how excited he was she would find a way to use it against him.

"Event? How is this an event? I am your _hostage_; you cannot be making a huge deal of this whole thing!" He resisted the urge to smack her for ruining his little fantasy in which everything was normal and she wanted to be with him.

"Well, first of all, Leese, you made a decision to go through with this wedding, so technically you are not a hostage, and second of all, it's not a 'huge deal.' It's us, your parents, Cynthia, my family, and a few close colleagues." He loved the way she flinched at the idea of marrying him in front of a group of professional killers.

"Your family? Other than your sister, what family do you have?" He watched her bite her lip after saying that. _Probably holding back 'that you haven't killed yet.'_

"Actually, I have a niece. You're not the first woman to get pregnant by accident with a guy you hated, Leese. In fact, you and Sarah have a _lot _in common." _More than I'll tell you now, babe. Last thing I need is you getting stressed thinking about that bastard- don't worry though, one day I'll tell you that I got him. _

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The day went by in relative peace, with Lisa managing to think about the wedding as an abstract happening rather than a lifelong commitment to Jackson Rippner, making it much easier to plan out. She found that it wasn't too different from arranging conventions at the Lux, and the brief return to her everyday activities was comforting. She had started a bit when Jackson had begun to rub her back, finding that her brain still naturally assumed any time he touched her would hurt. She made herself settle down though, and Jackson proved he could be surprisingly gentle when he wanted to.

"Why are you doing all this?" She felt him jump slightly as she suddenly spoke, and turned to face him on the couch. "I thought… when you came back, I thought you'd just kill me. Why are you making me go through all this?" She was surprised by how badly she wanted to know his motives, and wondered what she'd do if he refused to answer her.

"Lisa, you are the strongest, smartest, most beautiful woman I've ever met. I'd be an idiot to let you go- or kill you- especially now that you've got our little one there." He gestured at her belly, but her gaze was locked on his face. She was stunned that he was actually capable of saying something so sweet and seemed so sincere. _Get a grip- it's an act. That's what he does. He tells you what you want to hear, then breaks your heart. You're not falling for this again. _She also noted that he'd used her full name for once. She hoped this would start a trend- the sarcastic pet names and condescending 'Leese' bothered her, as it seemed like a cruel mockery of how her father spoke to her. She wondered if Jackson did that on purpose or if it was just her own skewed interpretation.

She realised that she'd been just staring at him, blushed, then looked away. He grabbed her chin and made her face him. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Lisa tried to pull away from his grip.

"No, Lisa. I told you what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, I want the same honesty from you. I know you couldn't have broken out, but there are a thousand ways you could have injured me since you got here, and you could have made yourself have a miscarriage- first trimester of your first pregnancy, you wouldn't have had much difficulty, so tell me why you didn't. Why are you here, planning our wedding and caring for our child?" She heard something in his voice she didn't recognise, and it scared her a little. He was dead serious, and she could tell that she was going nowhere until he got a satisfactory answer out of her.

"It's not the baby's fault that you are keeping me here. I'm not like you- I don't kill uninvolved children for a little personal benefit." She stared him straight in the eye and hoped he was even a little intimidated. With any luck, he'd become really guilty thinking of the Keefe kids and let her go as a sort of karmic thing, but she doubted it. "And I am still here because I want you to see what you've done. I want you to look your child in the eye and explain what you do for a living, and why mommy always seems so sad and why nobody's allowed to come visit us and we can't go out. I want you to see that you are bringing a new life into the world for the sole reason that you are a selfish bastard who only thinks about what serves you and how to get what you want when you want it." She was surprised that she'd had the clarity to come up with that. It wasn't a hundred percent true, and if she had the chance she'd be out of there in a flash, no need to stick around and guilt him, but the point was there. She was relieved when he let go of her face and got up from the couch.

"Fine, then Leese. You don't want any kind of emotional involvement, there won't be any. But realise that this changes nothing, that we're getting married, but you just killed your chances of any kind of normal life. From here on in, you're not the woman I love and wanted a family with, you're a vessel for the sole purpose of creating _my _children, who I will have control over. I will not let you poison my kids against me. Is that clear?" _Oh my God, what have I done? He was finally going to be nice, and I fucked it up. Why won't he just leave me alone? _In fact, he showed no signs of leaving her alone, simply standing next to the couch she was sitting on and watching her begin to cry.

"Stop your snivelling, you brought this on yourself." He grabbed her arm and yanked, pulling her up the stairs and into their bedroom. "Put on your pyjamas, the baby needs you to rest." She did what he said for fear of what he would do if she didn't, then curled up as far to her side of the bed as she could. He moved her closer to the middle and commanded that she go to sleep, then flipped off the lights and rolled so he was facing away from her. After about fifteen minutes of lying in the dark, she heard a low whisper. Jackson had slid down on the bed and was even with her stomach, talking softly to it. "I'll never let mommy hurt you, sweetie, don't worry." She felt tears sting her eyes at this show of paternal affection. What on earth was wrong with him? Why couldn't he be like this all the time? She felt him scoot back to his original place in the bed and gently rubbed where she guessed the baby was. This had become a prenatal popularity contest- who could be the best parent to this unborn child- and she was determined not to let him win.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: If Wes has an objection, he can fill out a comment card (lol)

Disclaimer: If Wes has an objection, he can fill out a comment card (lol)

Ahhh- the reviewers are disappearing! I beseech you, oh wonderful readers- tell me what you think when you read this. Even criticism is fine- it helps me write better.

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Lisa had accepted that there was no plausible way for her to get out of the house by herself, so she decided to make Jackson's life a living hell until he let her go. He would have no other option, really, as he wouldn't risk hurting the baby. She always seemed to wake up earlier than him, and this day was no different. She crept downstairs so she could think clearly without worrying about Jackson interrupting her planning. Even in his sleep he found little ways to torture her, flinging an arm over her or rolling so close that she couldn't breathe without inhaling the scent of his soap.

Just for the hell of it, Lisa tried to open the back door. She knew the front one made a ton of noise, but the back one seemed pretty quiet. No harm in seeing if maybe he'd forgotten to lock it. She was almost positive this was just wishful thinking, so she was completely shocked when the door easily slid open. She paused for a second, waiting for an alarm to go off or even a neighbouring dog to bark, but there was absolutely no way for Jackson to wake up and know what was happening.

Lisa had never been so elated in her life. She fought the urge to laugh from pure joy as she dashed out the door and around the front of the house. They were somewhere in the woods, but exactly where was unclear, so she just followed the main road, figuring it had to lead to some kind of civilization, where she could report the lunatic up in the woods and find a way to get back to Miami. _He's probably still fast asleep. I wish I could see his face when he realises what happened. He failed and I got away, again. Maybe he'll just go nuts and kill himself. _She was surprised by the sudden feeling of guilt she had for thinking that. She didn't want Jackson dead, she decided, she wanted him in prison, where he could suffer and think about how he was there because of his own stupidity, and know that Lisa was somewhere out there, happy as could be, not telling his child who or where he was. _That would be perfect. _

As she walked on, Lisa listened closely for any noise that could indicate either Jackson following her or that she was close to a town. It had been a good half-hour by now, and Jackson was bound to wake up sooner or later. She knew he'd notice she was gone, and didn't seem like one to just shrug and move on with his life. He'd hunt her like an animal, and she could only imagine the punishments he'd think up for her. He couldn't kill or beat her, but he'd find some sort of evil psychological torture to use. _I wonder if they teach them that sort of stuff at…assassin school? Where was he educated? How did this happen to him? _From his behaviour over the past couple of days, she'd decided that Jackson had a sense of decency and humanity, but concealed it because of his job. She wondered what he'd be like if he had been a lawyer or a banker. _I'd probably be head over heels for him. We could be really happy- he's handsome, smart, charming- why did he have to pick this god-awful occupation? _She'd gotten lost in her thoughts, but quickly snapped out of it at the glorious sight ahead. A little town centre! With people and shops and various other homey, non-kidnapper aspects! She didn't see a police station, so she hurried into the quaint little post office that she guessed would have a phone. She went up to the desk and rang the bell for service, and looked around. She was searching the room for something with the town name on it, so she did not see the clerk come up to the desk. This was unfortunate for her, as Lisa did not see the woman before she was rather roughly asked if she was lost. She was about to respond that she was when a hand grabbed her arm. She turned and found herself staring at Sarah Rippner. _Oh, shit._

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Jackson had woken up with the feeling that something was horribly wrong, and a quick search of the house confirmed this. The minute he'd seen the open back door, he'd called his sister and explained the situation, then contacted a few local merchants he knew, explaining that his fiancée had been in an accident and was having memory problems, and requesting that they tell him if they saw her. He was quite confident someone in town would find Lisa, and lucked out in that it was Sarah who actually did. He'd hastily made his way to the post office, immediately going to a back room where he found Sarah and Lisa. He'd been expecting Lisa to be bound and gagged, so he was surprised to find her sitting somewhat calmly on the couch, drinking tea and listening as Sarah spoke to her.

"Lisa, I know it doesn't seem like it now, but this is for your own good. I'll talk to Jack and make sure he doesn't hurt you in retribution, but you need to stop provoking him, because one day you're going to push him too far, and I'm not going to be able to help you."

"How is this for my own good? He locks me up, he threatens me, he used to hit me…" she trailed off as he entered the room. There was something he enjoyed about that, commanding her attention by just being there. He was revelling in this and did not notice his sister approaching him, making the sudden slap across his face much more shocking.

For a moment, all three of them stared in shocked silence. Even Sarah seemed to not believe what had just happened. The silence was immediately replaced by all three talking at once, which Jackson halted with a shrill whistle.

"Calm down, will you? You," he turned to Sarah "what the hell was that for?"

"I told you to be good to her, so why am I hearing about being smacked around and locked up and threatened and told that you just think she's your personal baby machine? Do you hear me treat my _child _like that? No, so why are you treating your fiancée, who is supposed to be your equal, like that?"

"Trust me, if Ellen was this much of a problem, you'd have done something to her by now. Do you know how many times I have caught this one trying to use my phone and computer?"

"Did it ever occur to you that she wouldn't do that if you didn't have her _locked in your fucking house_?" Jackson paused for a minute. He considered demanding to know why she acted like this was all his fault, then realised she actually had a point. _Oh, to hell with it. Just get Lisa and get out. This is between us and we'll sort it out ourselves. _He took a step towards Lisa, but was stopped by his sister's stern voice.

"Sit down. Nobody is going anywhere until this is resolved." He hated his body for naturally obeying her, sitting on the couch next to Lisa, who slid to the farthest possible spot from him. "Let's start out by saying this- neither of you is going to get exactly what you want- Lisa, you can't take Jack's baby and never let him see it again, and Jack, you can't be holding Lisa in your house and never letting her out. That is ridiculous, and I think even you know it." He bit his lip to keep from arguing, knowing it would get him nowhere. Still, she was treating them like children, and it was driving him crazy. "So, we need to make a compromise here. Any suggestions?"

"I'll let him have supervised visits with the baby. But he cannot come near us without permission and a court-appointed social worker." He looked at Lisa like she had just grown an extra head. If she thought he would allow that, she was insane. He was glad that Sarah didn't seem to like this plan either.

"Lisa, this is as much Jack's child as it is yours. You can't take it away from him like that. Besides, I can tell you from experience, it's not easy to be a single mother. You really need someone else with you through this."

"Not your dad." Jackson knew that would be Lisa's immediate response, and fought the urge to smirk at her when she turned to glare at him. "You of all people should know how close kids are to their daddies, Leese." Before an argument could start, Sarah regained control of the situation.

"I'm sorry, but he's right. A child needs a father, and I happen to think Jack would be a very good one." She quickly cut Lisa off by adding "He's wonderful with my daughter, Lisa- he's very different around children." Jackson saw Lisa glance at him, and while he couldn't quite place the look in her eyes, it was not the pure hatred she usually had for him. "You have to acknowledge Lisa's rights, though, Jack. She should be able to talk to her friends and family, and you cannot decide whether or not she can have a job or when she can go out. That's not fair, and quite frankly, it reminds me of _him_." Jackson felt himself tense up. He hated being compared to his father, and he knew that in this case, it was a valid comparison.

"Fine. What do you want me to do?" _Anything not to be like him._

"Jack, you need to let Lisa have a job and a social life. This will probably mean spending most of your time in Miami. I'll take care of your house here, and you can use it as a summer home or something. And Lisa, you should know that whatever deal we work out now, backing out and calling the police is not an option. I think you know that we Rippners have enough connections to ensure that no one is going to prison, and if you betray us, you negate any rights we give you. So, we all agree that Lisa will marry Jackson and raise the baby with him, but he needs to promise not to interfere with her career or social life. No one is to be locked up at home, and no one is to contact the police. Any problems will be reported to me, and anyone who violates this plan loses their side of the deal. Do we have an understanding?" Jackson nodded immediately, and watched as Lisa struggled with the idea. Finally, she looked up.

"What choice do I have?" She turned to Jackson and just stared at him, and he wondered what she was thinking. She clearly was not thrilled with this plan, but she had agreed to it. _She's mine! Wonderfully, gloriously mine! And it's all legit and we're gonna have a family and… whoa, I'm getting carried away here. Just need to focus on getting her to stop hating my guts. _He noticed as they walked out that Lisa's shoulders were slumped and that she sat heavily in the car and just stared out the window.

"Leese, look at me." She obeyed, and he was struck by how her eyes had lost their usual light. "Everything's going to be okay, sweetie. We'll get back to Miami, you can go visit your dad, and we'll make this work." She just turned away from him, and he sighed. He was really trying to be nice to her, but she was making it difficult. But, he was a goal-oriented person, so he decided to persist with his new goal- somehow, he would find a way to make her eyes light up again.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Whatever emotion-based dilemma Wes is dealing with, he has my sympathy, but for the sake of time and sanity let's break this down into a little fact-based logic

Disclaimer: Whatever emotion-based dilemma Wes is dealing with, he has my sympathy, but for the sake of time and sanity let's break this down into a little fact-based logic. One simple story needs these characters, and it has to be written soon.

Come on, brilliant readers, review! Those who did review, as always, you have my love.

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Jackson had suggested Lisa sleep in the car on the way back to Miami, so of course, she was keeping herself wide awake. He was almost amused by the way she would start to doze off, then remind herself that that was what he'd told her to do and force herself to stay up.

"Leese, you're not doing yourself any favours like that. Just take a nap, for God's sake. I'll wake you when we get there." She twisted slightly in her seat so he couldn't see her face, but her steady breathing proved that she had given in to sleep. He focused on the road for a majority of the drive, periodically checking that Lisa was still asleep and seemed comfortable. He tried to imagine what it would be like to finally be in her home. He had seen it many times, of course, but the idea of actually being in, being able to sit on her sofa and cook in her kitchen and sleep in her bed, seemed completely surreal. He was contemplating his new lifestyle when a thought crossed his mind. _Her father. There is no way he is going to be alright with this, and I don't trust him not to call the police. Worst comes to worst, I'll just say that he really doesn't like the idea of his little girl getting married. He's old enough that they'd believe he's senile, right? Let's hope so._

When they finally pulled into the parking lot of her apartment building, he leaned over and shook her shoulder lightly, trying not to startle her.

"Leese? Lisa, honey, we're home." She looked up at him groggily, then glanced out the window, trying to place where they were. He smiled slightly at the look of relief on her face as she recognized the place. He got their bags out of the trunk while she let herself wake up, then opened the door and helped her out of the car.

The walk to Lisa's apartment was not long, and soon enough they were inside. Jackson immediately went to go start putting their clothes away while Lisa checked her answering machine messages. There were a few from her father asking where she was, and some from Cynthia with hotel issues. He was surprised that they sounded equally desperate. He wondered if the Lux routinely executed inefficient workers, as there was no other explanation for Cynthia's panic. _Sorry, Leese, but I can't let you stay in that job too much longer. The stress isn't good for you and it's not good for the baby, so you'd better start checking the help wanted ads. _He wished Lisa would realise that he did these things for her own benefit, and that she could be much happier just staying at home and taking care of their house and family. _Which reminds me, we need to get a new place. There's barely enough room for the two of us here, and I want my kids to all have their own rooms. We'll get a nice beach house, close to her job if she insists on keeping it, and settle down. Kids love the beach, don't they?_

Although a lot of other problems had been cluttering his mind lately, Jackson still had nagging worries about whether he was ready to be a parent. He liked children in general, and got along well with his niece, but she was not exactly a normal child. She'd been very serious since she was a toddler, prompting Jackson to nickname her Wednesday after the Addams family's daughter. He had decided not to share this with Lisa yet, as the idea of him giving a pet name with an obscure reference to a child would give her ammunition for about a month's worth of fights. Still, he wondered what normal kids did and liked. His first thought was to use his normal method of getting information, but he had a feeling that a single man observing children at a park or beach would result in some odd looks, if not arrest.

"Oh, God. Why can't life be easier?" _Please don't let her have heard that. Note to self: stop talking to yourself. It makes you sound crazy._

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Lisa was happy to be home, even if she had to have Jackson with her. It was comforting that she knew where everything was, and that she also knew how to get out quickly in an emergency. _He locks one door, and I'm calling his sister. She doesn't seem a hundred percent normal, but at least while she's beating him up I can run. _She checked her messages, then sat on the couch to just let herself think. She would have to find something to tell her father and co-workers. Her dad would call the police the minute he heard Jackson was back in town, and she knew that if he got Jackson arrested, there would be major problems for all involved. On the other hand, he was not going to buy any kind of "oh, he apologised and now we're madly in love" explanation either. _I could just tell him about the baby and say that it needs a father- but then he'll want to know how I ended up pregnant by Jackson and that won't go over too well. Wait, why do I have to think of this? He's the criminal mastermind! _

"Jackson?" she found him in her bedroom, unpacking the clothes he'd bought her into her dresser. He looked up at her, waiting for her to finish her thought. "I was just thinking- what are we going to tell my father? He's either not going to believe me or panic and call the police."

"Well, we could just tell him how I came back to make sure you were okay after the Keefe job, and we fell in love and want to get married. Or we could tell him about our little bundle of joy." She almost laughed at Jackson using an expression usually used only by old ladies, but contained herself; he wasn't the sort to take being laughed at well.

"He'd never believe the first option and you know it."

"And the second? He'll believe it when he sees you in a couple of months with a bulging belly and the desire to eat everything in your fridge pureed together." She felt herself blush as she tried to form an answer.

"He'll want to know… I don't want to tell him… he'll think you… Jackson, please, can't we find something else to tell him?" She felt tears welling up in her eyes and cursed the hormones that were making her cry at even the slightest thing.

"What, you don't want daddy to know about our little tryst? He's going to eventually, Leese, might as well get it out now." Lisa realised that this was pretty much their only option, and wondered what her father would say. He'd be upset, she was sure, but she hoped he wasn't angry or disappointed in her. She was so lost in thought as she tried to go to sleep that she barely noticed the arm wrapped protectively around her body, or the smile Jackson gave her when she didn't push him away.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Whatever emotion-based dilemma Wes is dealing with, he has my sympathy, but for the sake of time and sanity let's break this down into a little fact-based logic

Disclaimer: What turned Wes into such a freak? Was it his parents divorce? Wait, did someone steal his characters?

Guys, there were 62 hits and 1 review- this math does not make sense! Please, let me know what you think!

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Lisa was just starting to wake herself up, but her mind still wandered into dream territory. She allowed herself to imagine that she'd met a nice guy with a good job, they'd fallen in love in the traditional fashion, involving dinners and flowers rather than forced abduction, that they'd decided to settle down, and that it was this fantasy man whose arms were wrapped around her now. Unfortunately, her brain did not allow her to keep up the pleasant charade for long, and brought her back to the harsh reality of her relationship with Jackson. He'd said they would talk to her father today, and she intended to hold him to it. She leaned over and shook him, not wanting to have to suit her life to his precious sleeping schedule.

"What is it? Is everything okay?" His voice was thick and sleepy, and she shook him again for good measure before responding.

"You said we could see my dad today. When are we going to go?" The look on his face was clearly one of 'you woke me up for_ that_?' but Lisa didn't care. She was going to her father's, whether he woke up and came with her or not.

"Leese, it's still early. Why don't you go make us some breakfast, I'll start waking up, and when we're both ready we can go, okay?" She yanked the blankets off of him, hoping that the cold would entice him to get up and get dressed, then trotted off to the kitchen to see if the eggs in her fridge were still good. They were, and she started to prepare breakfast but was overcome with nausea at the smell of food and dashed to the bathroom. _Shit, now I'm starting the two to four months of morning sickness. Way to go on the making me miserable, Jack. _She'd noticed that he allowed his sister to use the nickname, and wondered what he'd do if she called him that. _He calls me all kinds of stuff; I should be allowed to shorten his name. _She'd been busy thinking and vomiting and hadn't heard him come in, but suddenly felt his cool hands pulling her hair back and out of her face. She debated whether to thank him or not.

"You okay, Leese?" He actually sounded worried about her, and the usual hint of sarcasm was gone from his voice.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. This is normal for three weeks pregnant." He made a little noise of acknowledgement, and then helped her up. "Thanks, Jack." His mouth twitched, and she couldn't tell if he was suppressing a smile or the urge to beat the crap out of her.

"You're welcome, babe. Come on, clean up and we can head out to your dad's. I'll finish making breakfast." He left the room, and she was surprised to find that she almost missed his presence- he'd actually been taking care of her, and she hadn't particularly wanted the moment to end. _Okay, so he's not completely a heartless bastard, but still, I shouldn't be feeling anything for him. I should still want him to just leave me alone. So why don't I?_

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Sorry this chapter was so short, but I had a ton of stuff to get done today and didn't have much time to write. Tomorrow, onward to Joe Reisert's house!


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Well, here's to Wes Craven, whose characters are very much alive through this writing

Disclaimer: Well, here's to Wes Craven, whose characters are very much alive through this writing.

Yay! We have some more reviews- hugs, kisses, and general love to my wonderful reviewers- it really makes me so happy to see those e-mails!

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As they pulled into the driveway of 9321 Blossom Palms Lane, Lisa began to feel horribly nervous. It was bad enough to have to tell her father that she was pregnant out of wedlock, but to also tell him that it was Jackson's, and that he was sticking around pretty much for good was too much. She leaned against the window and let tears roll down her cheeks as she thought about what she was about to do.

"Leese, everything will be okay." She turned to face him, trying to think of something snarky to say in reply, but nothing came to mind. "He's your dad, and he loves you, and that's not gonna change, okay? He'll be pissed at me, but I can deal with it. He won't blame you. I promise you'll be fine." He leaned in and gave her a light, chaste kiss on the lips. She surprised herself by leaning into it slightly, and found that she missed his closeness when he pulled away and got out of the car. She followed him, and it seemed like only a fraction of a second before she was ringing the doorbell. Jackson stood behind her, hoping that Joe would be so distracted by Lisa's return that he wouldn't think to kill Jackson. She tensed when she heard the key turn in the lock, and as soon as the door was open, she threw herself into her father's arms.

"Lisa? Oh, God, sweetie, I was so worried about you." Her father hugged her tightly, and for a moment she was five again, safe in her dad's arms where nothing could hurt her. She just let him hold her for a minute, then pulled back.

"Daddy, I missed you so much." She saw the sudden look of fear on her father's face as he registered Jackson's presence. "Can we come in? There's something we have to tell you." Joe wordlessly ushered them both into the TV room, and when everyone had sat down he looked expectantly at Lisa. "Dad, I don't think there's any easy way to tell you this, so I'm just going to spit it out. Please, don't overreact." She could see her father's anxiety growing as he waited to hear the news.

"Leese, come on, you have to tell him, or I will." She glared at Jackson, hoping he would get the message and shut up.

"Dad, I'm pregnant. It's Jackson's baby, and he wants to be involved in its life. So we're getting married- for the baby's sake." She added that quickly, hoping her dad wouldn't think she had completely lost her mind.

"Lisa, I… I don't know what to say. This is very strange, and I can't say I ever imagined this scenario. How long have you two been, well, involved?" _Oh, no, he thinks I willingly have been dating Jackson. Let's set him straight right now on that one._

"We haven't been. Um, this just sort of... happened one night, and when we found out about the baby, he decided he didn't want to leave." Joe looked completely flabbergasted. He turned to Jackson and glared.

"How dare you do this to my daughter? Hasn't the poor girl been through enough without you deciding to… have your way with her?" Jackson's response was immediate.

"I wouldn't phrase it like that, Mr. Reisert. As I recall, Lisa was the one who started making out with-" he was cut off as Lisa kicked him sharply in the shin. She could deal with implying that they'd slept together, but there was no way in hell she would let Jackson describe details to her dad.

"Lisa, honey, you know I love you and will support you in whatever you choose to do, but are you sure you want this?"

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Jackson looked at Lisa, waiting to hear her response. He was pretty sure she'd tell her father the truth, and it would be helpful for him to know. If she said yes, he could keep up the affectionate, comforting relationship he'd been trying to start. If she said no, he didn't know what he would do. He'd tried convincing himself that he didn't care and that he could ignore her, but that didn't seem to be working.

"I'm sure, dad. Jackson and I are really in love, and want to be together. All I ask is for you to give him a chance. Please?" Jackson could not believe his ears. _Where the hell did that come from? She could have just said yes, why add all that love stuff? Is my little Lisa starting to break down? This could be easier than I thought._ He slid an arm around her shoulders, trying to seem casual and like he'd been expecting that answer from her. Joe looked sceptical for a moment, then finally seemed to accept his daughter's claim.

"Lisa, if this is what you want, I support you completely." He extended a hand towards Jackson "welcome to the family." Jackson shook the proffered hand, glad that Joe was so completely affected by whatever Lisa said. They spent a few hours at her father's house, and he kept quiet for most of the time, letting Lisa just chat with her father. When they finally left, he heard Joe ask Lisa one last 'are you sure?' before closing the door behind them.

"Good girl, he seemed to buy that. You know, you're a great liar, Leese, really top notch. Even your own father couldn't-"

"Shut up! Just shut the hell up, will you? This is hard enough without needing to put up with you and your sarcasm!" They were both a little taken aback by her outburst, and drove back to the apartment in silence. Once they were inside, Lisa went and locked herself in the bathroom, and even with the noise of the shower he could hear her sobs. He just looked around the flat while she was in the shower, figuring that she'd be even more upset if he found some way to get in to talk to her. When she emerged from the bathroom, she had on a cotton nightgown and her still damp hair was hanging around her face. He didn't give her a chance to speak before he made his way over and hugged her, trying to give her some comfort. He felt her lean into his embrace, and swept her up in his arms, carrying her into their room and laying her down on the bed. He lay down next to her and pulled her close again.

"Lisa, you know I care about you, right? I told you everything would be okay, and the sky has yet to turn to fire, no? You, me, your dad, the baby, we're all going to be fine, and you need to just acknowledge that and let yourself relax, okay?" He gently rubbed her back, and for a moment she just stared at him, then moved closer and gave him a passionate kiss. He returned it, then pulled back slightly. "Leese, I love you, and I promise I will do my best to make you happy." Even after she'd kissed him, he was still shocked when she leaned forward so her mouth was even with his ear and whispered

"I love you too, Jack. I mean it. I have no idea why, but I do love you."


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Well, here's to Wes Craven, whose characters are very much alive through this writing

Disclaimer: I'm exhausted, I've worked for 18 hours straight, and I suspect that Wes hates me just as much as Carl does. So why don't they just give me a break? Let me go back to my story which I'm guessing is a lot less profitable than yours.

I thrive on reviews, and they motivate me to update quicker, so just send me a line…

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Jackson stared at her in shock. _I could not have heard that right. Maybe it was "I loathe you"? _He saw that she had a similar look on her face and decided that he'd heard her right. She'd said it, and maybe she meant it.

"Leese, that's amazing. I… I don't know what to say." He saw her start to look unsure of herself and felt himself panic. _Don't let her rethink this! Say something, you don't even have to be clever, just speak. _"So, now that you're more willing to talk about it, where do you want to honeymoon?" _Not my best, but better than sitting here staring at her in silence like a freak. _

"I don't know- I don't really travel much. Maybe somewhere in Europe?" He decided not to remind her how much she hated flying. _Maybe she's over it. That'd be nice, we could have family vacations. _"I would love to go somewhere special. You know, like somewhere I'd have no other reason to go."

"Like France? We could go to Paris." He'd been there on a job once and liked it. It was a beautiful city. _Romantic too- good for a honeymoon. _The way her face lit up at the mention of Paris made him keenly aware of his now-rapid heartbeat. "Sound like a good plan?" She nodded, and he smiled at her. "I'll look for hotels and flights tomorrow after work, okay?"

"Do you go to work at a certain time, or just whenever they need you?" He wondered why she would ask that. _I don't think she's planning an escape, but I seriously doubt she just wants to make sure dinner is on the table when I get home. _

"Well, tomorrow I have a client to meet with, so I'll be out for a while. Probably be home a little after you get back from the Lux."

"Okay- do you need the alarm clock set? I have it set for seven, but if you want to change it…"

"No, I'm fine. Are you going to be okay tomorrow? If you've got morning sickness, all those guests with their breakfasts are not going to be good." He was genuinely worried for her, as he'd never seen her look so vulnerable as she had that morning in the bathroom. _Well, except when I was choking her, but that doesn't count. _

"I'll be fine. And please, don't ask me if I'm sure." With that she rolled over to go to sleep, and he gently pulled her to him.

"Leese, you should know by now that I like holding you while we sleep. I want to be able to know you're here, and I want to feel it when my baby starts moving." He knew that wouldn't be for at least two months and even then only Lisa would be able to feel it, but he still liked to feel involved. He needed to prove to himself that he was not like his own father, and that his children would always know he loved and cared about them. He fell asleep thinking about the events of the evening, and had pleasant dreams for the first time in years.

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Lisa was up significantly later than he was, simply lying in bed and asking herself the same question repeatedly. _Why did I say that? _She would have liked to think it was because she had a new plan to get rid of him, but that wouldn't be true. She wasn't sure if she'd meant it, and tried to get a grasp on what exactly her feelings for Jackson were.

It seemed almost like he had two personalities, one a cold-blooded professional killer who lived for his job and wanted her to be his maid/cook, and another that seemed to really care about her, and was currently lying beside her with one arm draped over her shoulders and the other hand resting lightly on her abdomen. If he could somehow just purge that first one from his psyche, she would have said that yes, she definitely loved him. But she knew he couldn't, and would live in fear of that part of him coming back to haunt them throughout their lives. She thought about this for some time, and then fell into an uneasy sleep.

The blaring of the alarm clock was always annoying, but after her fitful sleep the night before it was almost unbearable. Jackson drowsily mumbled something about turning it off, then went back to sleep. Lisa found it pretty easy to ignore him, and got herself ready for work as she would any other day. She decided to skip breakfast, as she wasn't feeling great, and headed off to work.

On the drive to the Lux, she wondered what she would tell Cynthia. Her friend was bound to notice the ring, and as an afterthought might ask why Lisa had been gone for so long. She decided to keep her answers short and to the point, with little to no detail for Cynthia to latch onto. Even mentioning that her fiancé had blue eyes was bound to result in Cynthia naming every blue-eyed man they knew and asking if that was him. As she pulled into the parking lot, she wondered how she would explain her absence. _Maybe I'll just say my boyfriend took me away really suddenly so he could propose. People would believe that, right? _

"Lisa! You're finally back!" Cynthia ran over and hugged her the minute she walked in, and Lisa felt like she was returning home as the rest of the staff greeted her warmly and told her how much they'd missed her. She staved off most questions by claiming she had a ton of work to do, which was true, as people had apparently just been stacking paperwork on her desk since she'd left, and her e-mail inbox was insanely full. Most of the day was spent dealing with those issues, and she was relieved when her shift was finally over. She knew that the next day she'd have less of an excuse to avoid telling people where she'd been, but it was nice to have gotten rid of the mountain of paper. As she headed home, she wondered what they would do for dinner. She doubted Jackson would even be home yet, let alone have cooked, so she decided to just order pizza, hoping he would be alright with it. _I wonder what he's up to. Hopefully he's having a good day- the better mood he's in, the easier my life seems to be. _

While she waited for the pizza, Lisa sat in the living room and read, hoping to learn when the nausea would stop, and also curious as to when she would be able to feel her child. It still seemed unreal to her, and the thought that there was a little human life in her belly was still not fully registered in her brain. When she's had enough of reading about aches and pains she had yet to experience, she decided to start knitting a blanket for the baby. She had a ton of yarn lying around from when her father had decided she needed a hobby, and found a nice, gender-neutral green to work in.

When Jackson came home, he could hardly believe his eyes. There was Lisa, sitting on the couch in her pyjamas, knitting something he assumed was for the baby. She looked up when she heard him come in, and blushed at his look of disbelief.

"It's a blanket. You know, for the baby." She had just needed to say something to get him to stop looking at her like that. He sat next to her on the couch, looking over her shoulder at her work.

"It's nice, honey. It'll be good for you to be able to wrap the baby in something you made by yourself." He paused for a few minutes before asking "Did you have a good day at work?"

"I had a lot to do, but it wasn't terrible. I'm just kind of tired now, so I ordered a pizza so neither of us had to cook." She knew she sounded tired, so she guessed he wouldn't mind too much. She also carefully avoided asking how his day had been. Most women could be proud if their fiancé said they'd gotten a new client at work, but the idea of Jackson's assignments made her feel sick to her stomach, and she was sure it was not just from the pregnancy.

"Lisa, if it's too much for you to be working, you don't have to. I make enough to support us with quite a bit of money left over, so if you decide you want to stay home and just focus on taking care of yourself, you should feel free to." She considered the idea for a minute, then quickly rejected it. So what if it made her a little tired? She had a good job, and she would not rely on Jackson's blood money to care for herself or her child.

"I'm fine, really. I want to stay on at the Lux, and I'll let you know if I change my mind, alright?" He nodded, then went to answer the doorbell, which was ringing incessantly in the way only a teenage delivery boy could cause. She leaned back against the pillows and sighed, thinking about what Jackson had said. _I will not let him turn me into his little housewife. It's not happening, and I'm calling his sister if he tries anything._

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Tomorrow we'll get to see Jackson at work, which will resemble his personality from the movie significantly more. (Interesting factoid- a pheromone released by pregnant women tends to counteract testosterone, so it is true that even men who are usually aggressive become calmer when exposed to a pregnant woman for an extended period of time. At work, though, Jack is surrounded by testosterone, and joins in the boys club)


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: So what is it I do

Disclaimer: So what is it I do? Oh, director overthrows, flashy, high profile character theft, the usual.

Yay! We have reviewers coming back! This makes my life!

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Jackson had no idea what had been up with him for the past few days. It seemed like his logical side was on vacation, leaving an emotional mush that was decidedly uncomfortable. Lisa was bound to try something if he seemed vulnerable, and even if she didn't, women didn't like weak men. _Ah, well. Work should get me sorted out. Lord knows I need to be strong and logical to do what I do. _The day before had mainly been post-op work from the Keefe job, and today he might actually get a new assignment.

After checking in with office security, he made his way to the boss's office for the briefing on his new job. He hadn't seen Robert Morton in almost three months, and was sure that there was a lot of praise coming his way. Bob had always treated Jackson as a surrogate son, and took pride in his successes as if they were his own. He tried to think of the last time he'd seen the man. _Probably last May. I went to his place for dinner to celebrate the Rominski job being over. _He remembered that night well. The home-cooked food, the tastefully decorated, clean home, the laughter of Bob's children in the next room. _Not a bad life. His wife and kids seem happy; maybe I should introduce Lisa to them. Show her what's in store for her. _

He arrived at the office and knocked sharply on the frosted glass door. Like everything in the building, it was sleek, modern, and highly efficient, blocking anyone from seeing in to the room. The door was opened and Jackson was surprised to find himself being hugged. Bob usually shook his hand, but was currently squeezing Jackson's shoulders as he led him over to a seat.

"Jack, my boy, we have wonderful news! The client was so impressed with the… message sent by the Keefes' deaths that he has doubled our pay and given us a new hit to carry out. You could make your career off these guys, it's a lucrative offer." _How many enemies to these people have? _He quickly reminded himself that it was not his place to question clients, just do what he was told to and move on. Then a thought struck him.

"Is it here in Miami?" Bob looked confused at the question, and did not show any hint of the answer as he asked why Jackson wanted to know. He took a deep breath and tried to think how he would explain the situation to his mentor.

"Remember the girl? The one who moved the hotel room on the Keefe job?" A nod as Bob tried to see where this was going. "Well, she and I have become romantically involved, and now we're engaged, and I don't want to be ditching her to go off to Russia or wherever for these guys."

"Jack, you know it would only be a week or so, and you've left girlfriends behind before. What's so different about this one?"

"She's pregnant, Bob. It's early days, but still I'd feel awful leaving her alone while I went to go whack some guy."

"Well, you should remember that in this job, how you feel does not matter. So your option is pretty much to either bear a little emotional trouble and make enough money to keep that child comfortable for its whole life, or stay home with your little wifey and pass up the biggest opportunity of your life." Jackson felt his usual businesslike self kick in as he considered the decision, and then finally answered.

"I'll go, but do me a favour, will you? Have somebody look after Lisa for me. Not one of the workers. I mean somebody I can trust with my girl and my kid. I think we both know what'll happen if I come back and find that something happened to her."

"Of course, Jack. In fact, perhaps your… Lisa, is it?... could stay with my family. It's the safest place I know of, and from reading her file, I'm guessing that this whole relationship was your idea and she still needs some convincing. Spending time with Nancy and the kids could do her good." Jackson nodded. Mrs. Morton was a straight-up, June Cleaver-style housewife, who kept the house tidy and the two-point-five kids under control, and the idea of her influencing Lisa's lifestyle appealed to him.

"When do I leave?" He accepted a handful of papers in a manila envelope as Bob told him that he would be leaving in two days for Moscow, and that ideally he'd be home in a week. He went back to his office and spent the rest of the day planning how to best dispose of a family whose name he couldn't actually pronounce.

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Lisa had gotten home early from work and decided to spoil herself, filling the tub with hot water and bubbles and sinking in for a relaxing bath. She allowed herself to think of absolutely nothing, just revelling in the peaceful feeling from the dimmed lights and the lavender scented soap. When she finally decided she'd soaked enough, she dried herself with a soft, fluffy towel and lay down on her bed to just relax. She could have stayed like that for hours, but her meditation was interrupted by the door opening and closing. She cursed Jackson for ruining her peace and quiet.

"Leese, honey? You home?" She debated whether to respond to him; it was so tempting to just ignore his voice. "Leese?" The door to the bedroom opened and she saw his eyes widen at the image of her on the bed with just a towel draped over her. He stared in silence for an instant before she grabbed the robe hanging next to the bed and covered herself up. His focus returned. "Babe, I have to go on a business trip. Shouldn't be more than a week, so you won't need to worry about the place for too long-"

"Worry about the place? Why would I do that when I am not going anywhere? Unless you didn't tell me that one of our little couple's activities was me going along while you kill people." She felt panic growing in her at the thought of needing to go on a job with him. _And just when I had finally relaxed. _

"It's not safe for you to stay here by yourself. I don't want you needing to put up with all sorts of shit because of Keefe, and I don't want to need to worry about you and the baby while I'm away. You can't come with me," _Thank God _"but you're going to go stay with my boss's family until I get back. They're nice people, you'll be fine." She stared at him in shock, then found her voice and started screaming at him.

"I am not your pet, _Jack_! You cannot just tell me what to do and expect me to be a good little girl and listen. I'm marrying you, I'm having your child, don't I deserve a little peace and quiet in my own house when you're not going to be here anyway?" She was finally adjusting to this lifestyle, and she'd be damned if she was going to let him switch things up on her again.

"Lisa, I am trying to help you, so why do you always have to make things so fucking difficult? Why can't you just do what I tell you and accept it for once in your life?" He sounded angry, and Lisa feared that she'd brought back the old, menacing Jackson. She didn't like the idea of being tied up again, so she quickly switched tactics.

"Jackson, honey, please. Don't make me leave our home." She sidled up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, disgusted with herself but pretty sure this was her safest bet. "I want to stay here, and work on my knitting, and start decorating a space for the baby." She hoped she didn't sound as shaky as she felt, and wondered if she should call Sarah to report this incident.

"We're not staying here, it's not big enough. How about this: you go stay with Bob's family, and Nancy can take you to start looking for a house. Then you can settle in and nest to your heart's content." She tried to think of an obscenity-free response to this.

"Jackson, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Can't I stay here and your friend can check in on me every now and then? The only difference is that I would be sleeping in my own bed. And I can go house-hunting and maybe when you get back we'll have a new place. That sound good?" She prayed that he would just accept this, but her relief at his little nod was short-lived.

"That sounds great, Leese, you should be comfortable. Nancy can come stay here and keep an eye on you. Make sure you're not getting into any trouble around here." She thought about fighting him on this, but decided that this was the best deal she could get. She sighed and told him it was fine. "Good girl. Now, go put some clothes on, I'll make us some dinner." She fought the urge to jump him and gouge his eyes out at his little pat on her ass as she turned to leave. _Where the hell is all this coming from? I never thought I'd say it, but I think I preferred lovey, mushy, 'whatever is good for the baby' Jackson._


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: Ahh- I'm going to run out of movie lines to tamper with to say they're not mine before I run out of chapters

Disclaimer: Ahh- I'm going to run out of movie lines to tamper with to say they're not mine before I run out of chapters.

Reviewers, you all rock! Thanks a million for the feedback!

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Jackson had packed a suitcase the night before, and Lisa was ecstatic the idea of him leaving for at least a week. That would be seven nights without his body pressed against her and his arm draped over her in a way that was simultaneously protective and restraining. _Wonderful. I just hope his friend has some sympathy for me. Maybe I can convince her to just leave me alone. _She doubted this would be possible, but it gave her some comfort to consider it.

She was jarred out of her thoughts as the alarm clock went off. It confused her for a moment, as this was her day off from work, but she remembered that Jackson had set it so he could get to the airport on time. She pretended to be asleep as he showered and dressed, and was pretty confident she'd gotten away with not needing to endure any conversation with him. Unfortunately, this was not so and Jackson came back in.

"Leese, you're a terrible actress. I know you're up." She rolled over to face the doorway he was standing in and glared at him. "Aw, babe, I know you'll miss me, but I'll be home before you know it, okay?" He crossed over to the bed and knelt so he was even with her face. "Bob's wife will be here around noon, so please be up and showered. I'll call you when I land." He paused and seemed ready to leave before turning to her once more. "You know I love you, right?" He leaned down and kissed her deeply on the lips, then turned and left, closing the door gently behind him.

As soon as she was sure he was gone, Lisa sprang out of bed and tried to figure out how to best spend her week of freedom. Running away would be no good, as this lady who was apparently her babysitter would notice and call Jackson, but maybe there was some other way to make the most of this. Then a brilliant idea dawned on her. _He told me to go house hunting. So I guess he doesn't mind if I spend his money. In fact, it would almost be like a reward for putting up with him. _

There was a knock on the door, and Lisa answered it to find who she only assumed was Mrs. Morton. She was in her late forties, with dark hair pulled back from a rather plain face. She looked nice enough, but somewhat stressed. _Perfect. If she has other stuff going on, it'll be easier to convince her to go take care of that. _

"Hi, you must be Mrs. Morton. I'm Lisa." She shook her hand politely.

"Please, it's Nancy. Mrs. Morton sounds so prim and old-fashioned, don't you think?" Lisa noticed that she remained outside as they spoke. "Now, Lisa dear, could you do me a huge favour?" My youngest is sick and I really should be home with him, but I promised Jack I'd look after you. Is there any way you could keep yourself busy? I promise I'll check in often, it's just that-"

"Don't worry about it. You can take care of him, I'll be fine." _Yes! This could not be working out better!_

"Are you sure? Jack said you were quite upset at the idea of being left alone. I don't want you to be sitting around being nervous because you didn't want to seem selfish." _He told her I was scared to be alone? Why would he do that? _

"Really, it's no problem. I think maybe Jackson was just projecting a little of _his _anxiety about me being home alone. I'll be fine; maybe go shopping for a little."

"Ah, the pleasures of being the wives of multi-millionaires; we can go shopping wherever we like and whenever we like. Anyhow, thank you so much, and call me if you need anything." She jotted down her phone number, said a quick goodbye, then left.

Lisa was still absorbing something she'd said. _Multi-millionaires? I knew Jack made a lot, but never thought it would be _that _much. Although I guess there's not much competition in the murder-for-hire business. Might as well go spend some of that money. If I'm going to be stuck with the last name 'Rippner' I'm taking as many little perks as I can. I wonder if he'll even care? _

She went to the mall and shopped for a while, discovering the joys of being able to afford anything she wanted and accumulating many new pairs of shoes in the process. She decided to wait on buying new clothes, as she had no idea what size she would be after she had the baby, and it would only make her depressed if she bought something now and didn't fit into it later. She also looked at baby items, and was tempted to splurge there, when she realised something that hindered her baby-shopping. _I have no idea if it's a boy or a girl. When can I find out? Do I even want to know? _She debated this with herself for a while, and came to a conclusion that annoyed her, but would be the best course of action. _I'll ask Jackson. If he wants to know, we'll find out; if not, we won't. _

Several days of lazing, shopping, and spending as little time at work as possible later, Lisa began a new project: to find the perfect house for her new family. She had been forcing herself to think of them like that, as they eventually would be a family. She had never expected how many decision there would be in this process, but was enjoying the planning until a problem question arose. _How many bedrooms do we want? If there's more than two, Jackson might think I'm implying that I want more kids, but if there are only two and we eventually do have another baby, we'll have to move again. _She decided to just go with whatever house felt right and had the best construction, and ignore the bedroom issue. Finally, she settled on a beach house that was built recently and had modern conveniences, but was in the style of the quaint homes in the Florida Keys. She had visited the house and loved it, but decided not to risk Jackson's wrath by buying a home without consulting him. Also, she could present the third, fourth, and fifth bedrooms as guest rooms and an office, so he wouldn't get any ideas.

By the fifth day of her time alone, Lisa had become accustomed to this sort of life, and found that it suited her well. She'd dutifully checked in to tell Nancy she was alright, and they'd promised each other to both tell Jackson that they'd been together all week. She had spoken to Jackson once, when he landed, and he'd sounded stressed and distracted, so she hadn't bothered to call him again. She was in the kitchen making dinner and hoping the nausea that had plagued her for the last few weeks wouldn't come up again when she felt something touching her waist. She shrieked and spun to find Jackson standing directly behind her, lightly embracing her and smirking at her panicked look.

"How the hell did you do that? I would've heard the door, how did you get in here?" His grin widened as he leaned in closer to her.

"You have to be more observant, Leese. I got home about two hours ago and when you came in you did not even notice. Glad you missed me so much. And by the way, don't _ever_ think I will fall for one of your stupid little tricks. Bob told me that his son has the flu and his wife was home with him all weekend. So either she has become two people, or you, my dear, are a liar. If there is one thing I have meant for you to learn in our time together it is that you should never lie to me. And don't even try to make up what you did all week- I've seen my credit card bill." Lisa blushed and looked away from him, knowing that she'd spent more in a week than she usually earned in a month. "Don't worry, babe, you didn't exactly break the bank. Nice that you're adapting so well, though. So, here's the new plan. Tonight I will get some rest. Tomorrow, you will show me the house that the real estate papers on the table show you're so in love with. Early next week, we get married. By the end of the week, I have you settled in our new house and picking baby room furniture. I hope you like that plan, because that is what is going to happen." She tried to formulate a response, but only managed to stutter out

"Next week? You want me to marry you _next week_? That's a little soon, no?"

"Well, Leese, we can't really wait much longer because I don't want to have you obviously pregnant in our wedding pictures. I do have some sense of decency, you know." He let go of her and Lisa numbly finished cooking, pondering what he'd said. _Decency? He kills people for a living and is saying it's not decent for me to be showing when we get married? There is something seriously wrong with either his moral compass, his brain, or both._


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: There's a fun mix of mine and not-mine people, but if you've seen the movie you know who belongs to Wes and who doesn't

Disclaimer: There's a fun mix of mine and not-mine people, but if you've seen the movie you know who belongs to Wes and who doesn't.

Reviews are wonderful and make me very happy. Am debating doing brief Red Eye Halloween oneshot on Friday, let me know if you guys would be interested.

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Lisa was amazed by how quickly Jackson had arranged everything. In under a week, the wedding, reception, honeymoon, and their new home were all completely ready and paid for. She was also a little curious about how he had gotten some of his relatives to come on such short notice, and had arranged for Lisa's mother to fly first-class from Texas. Her mom had not heard much about Lisa and Jackson's history together, so she came with nothing but respect and admiration for her soon-to-be son-in-law.

By the time the actual day rolled around, Lisa was a nervous wreck. She knew that in the long run this was what was best for her and (considering Jackson's connections) her friends and family, but she still was not to keen on the idea of getting up in front of a large group of people and declaring her undying love for the man. At least she didn't have to put up with him that morning, because he seemed oddly traditional about not wanting to see her before the actual ceremony. Her mother and Cynthia, who was her maid of honour, were helping her with her makeup, while a group of co-workers and cousins were her bridesmaids. Lisa took some comfort in her mother's presence, and tried to relax before she gave herself a panic attack.

"Sweetheart, don't fidget like that. Everyone gets nervous on the big day, you'll be fine. I remember when I married your father I almost threw up from the stress." Carol Reisert paused for a moment, debating whether bringing up her marriage had been a bad idea. She and Joe had parted on decent terms with each other, and she had kept her last name, but they had decided that the relationship was just not working out. She was sure this would not happen to Lisa, whose fiancé struck her as a perfect gentleman who would take care of Lisa forever.

"Mom, I'll be okay." She quickly added "I'm sure." She knew that her mother would have asked her that, and she would have ended up just weeping uncontrollably, thinking about that night in the airport when she'd first told Jackson her father's favourite thing to ask her. She almost cried just thinking about it. Lisa tried to just focus on other things, but the situation would not allow her to.

"Lisa, when are you guys going away? I would love to go to France!" Cynthia's enthusiasm for everything in life was usually refreshing, but today is was just making her nerves even worse.

"In two weeks- Jackson needs to take care of some work stuff before we can go." Lisa had been a bit relieved that she'd have time to settle into married life before going on vacation with him, and thinking about it calmed her down slightly. However, her little time of serenity was quickly changed to panic by her mother.

"So your wedding night will be at home?" Her mother's suggestive tone brought a realisation crashing down on Lisa. _I never thought of that! Hopefully Mr. Prim and Proper won't want to have sex knowing I'm pregnant. But if he does, what am I going to do? He doesn't seem like the type to take no for an answer. Maybe he'll just take pity on me and leave me alone. _Carol noticed her daughter's sudden look of panic and quickly tried to reassure her. "Don't worry dear- there's nothing to stress about. And you two clearly already have… been together, so there's no problem." Lisa fought the urge to mention that Jackson had drugged her and instead told a not-quite-lie.

"I'd been drinking, and I don't really remember our night together." She saw the look on her mom's face that indicated an awkward conversation was coming on and tried to prevent it. "I'll be fine, really. I'm sure everything will work out okay and I'll end up alright." She was saved from further explanation as someone looked at the clock and said it was time to go.

As much as Lisa was on edge, she had to admit that the dress Jackson had bought her was beautiful, and fit her perfectly. He had also made sure that it was cut high enough that her scar would be completely obscured by fabric. She felt wonderful in it, and that gave her the small amount of confidence needed to actually get inside the church. It was important to her family, so she'd agreed to a church wedding, and Jackson had already seemed to know it would be an issue and planned ahead.

Her father walked her down the aisle, and she could see him starting to tear up at the idea of his baby girl getting married. She saw Sarah Rippner in a pew, looking much less menacing in a formal dress with her makeup done, and she stood with a little girl Lisa guessed was Jackson's niece. Looking forward, Lisa was struck by how handsome Jackson looked in his tux, and tried to just focus on that and remind herself she was marrying a handsome, wealthy man who was doing his best to take care of her. She took her place beside him and felt him take her hand. He held on to her through most of the ceremony, mostly just resting her hand in his, but she did feel him squeeze when she was meant to say her vows. She was impressed with herself for choking out "I do" without sobbing or giving in to the temptation to flee, and when Jackson's grip relaxed she lightly caressed his palm with her thumb, starting to realise that he seemed nervous too. She had been focusing on their hands so much that she was completely surprised when Jackson pulled her against him and kissed her. She returned the kiss for the sake of not starting a fight in a church, and allowed him to lead her outside to the limo.

He had arranged the reception at the Lux Atlantic, which Lisa appreciated, as she felt like she was on her home turf. The staff all knew and liked her, so the service was exceptional, and she was glad to see that the guests seemed to be enjoying themselves. She had been introduced to a multitude of new people, and was taken aback by how many relatives Jackson had that he still kept in contact with. Apparently he and Sarah had become sort of adopted by the rest of the family after their parent's deaths. _Do these people know what he did to them? Does his sister even know? _His relatives seemed nice enough, and were all very enthusiastic about letting Lisa into their family.

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Jackson was taking a quick break from the festivities to let his mind absorb everything that had happened. He leaned against a wall in the hallway and let a grin spread over his face as the thought sank in. _She's mine now. Lisa Reisert- no, Lisa Rippner- is my wife, finally. _He stood outside and gloated for a moment, then went back to rejoin the party. Lisa was chatting with one of his aunts, and he made his way over to them, knowing that this woman was the queen of sharing _far_ too much information. He approached them just in time to hear about the time he and Sarah had attempted to dig to China from their backyard, and knew from experience that Aunt Peggy never mentioned that he had been four at the time. Lisa turned around as he approached.

"Jackson, you need to show me pictures of you from when you were little. Peggy was telling me that you were the _cutest_ little baby." He fought the urge to glare at the two of them and made a mental note never to invite his relatives to anything ever again.

He and Lisa were sitting with their immediate families, and by the time they got to the table Sarah and Joe were having a conversation about gardening. This struck Jackson as extremely funny, but if anyone could find an interest shared by old, retired men and young women who didn't need jobs because their brothers supported them, his sister could. He and Lisa hadn't spoken much to each other, except a few little pleasantries about whether each liked the food and to occasionally comment on one of the guests' clothes. Jackson was determined to not let the awkwardness continue, and finally found something to talk about when he discovered that Lisa was quite a good dancer. After they'd danced with each other, Lisa with her father and Jackson with his sister, they found a quiet little area to sit in, and conversation finally seemed to flow naturally between them. They just sat and talked for a while before their peace was interrupted.

"Uncle Jack, you have to come dance with me- you promised you would." They both turned around and saw Jackson's niece, who was tugging at his sleeve insistently.

"Excuse me, Leese, but I do make a point to keep my promises. You don't mind if I dance with another girl, do you?" He smiled jokingly at Lisa, who found herself returning the look.

"Uncle Jack, you'll have plenty of time to look at her and I only see you every couple of months. _Come on!_" Jackson heard Lisa's little laugh as he was dragged off by the insistent child. In the few weeks they'd been together, he'd told her a lot about his niece, partially hoping that Lisa would see his relationship with Ellen as a sign that he would be a good father, and partially just because he enjoyed being with her and wanted Lisa to realise that it was important to him that she get along with her.

When Ellen had decided she was done pulling him around the dance floor she returned him to Lisa, then climbed on his lap and started asking Lisa questions. They ranged from 'When is your birthday?' to 'How did you two meet?' to 'Do you want to know why Uncle Jack calls me Wednesday?' and Jackson tried to get her to stop, but she was relentless. At least Lisa didn't seem to mind answering whatever she could, and actually seemed to be enjoying the interrogation.

By about one o'clock in the morning, Wednesday had fallen asleep on Jackson's lap, where she stayed until Sarah came and got her to take her home. Lisa had felt herself starting to get a bit tired, so she and Jackson said their goodbyes and headed home. Once they'd gotten in and had some time to just relax after the busy day, Jackson kissed Lisa passionately, hoping he was making his intentions clear. He was worried for a moment that she'd either push him away or start crying, but neither occurred and to both of their surprise and delight, Jackson and Lisa Rippner had a nice, traditional wedding night.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: Not mine, don't foresee them becoming mine anytime soon

Disclaimer: Not mine, don't foresee them becoming mine anytime soon.

Glad you guys liked the last chapter- I was trying to get that awkwardness and tension to seem natural, and am glad you liked it.

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Jackson woke up feeling completely content with life, cuddling Lisa's warm body against his own and revelling in the knowledge that (at least for this moment) he and his new wife were happily married and just taking comfort from their closeness. He wondered if the night before had been as good for her as it had been for him- he wanted Lisa to be more open to the idea of having a physical relationship. His hands roamed over her sleeping form, finally resting on her belly. He was eagerly waiting for some outward sign of the little life in her, but so far there was no bulging, kicking, or even slight rounding of Lisa's abdomen. _It's still early, give it time. You'll have a strong, healthy baby, so stop worrying about it. _No matter how often he tried to talk himself out of his nerves, he still came back to worrying, and made a mental note to get Lisa to an obstetrician to get some confirmation that everything was fine.

He felt her shift under him, and gently rolled her over so she was facing him.

"Good morning, sweetie." She leaned over and kissed him, and he realised that was the first time she'd called him by a pet name. "You sleep okay?"

"Never better. Leese, I was thinking, we should probably get you to a doctor soon. Make sure everything's okay, you know?" She nodded, and he held her close, keeping her warm against the breeze through their open window. He heard her sigh lightly and the two of them just stayed like that for a while, taking comfort from each other. Suddenly Lisa broke the silence.

"I hope the baby has your eyes." He cocked his head slightly, wanting her to clarify. "You have really beautiful eyes, and I want my- our baby to have them too." He felt a strong surge of emotion as she said this. _There is something about me that she not only loves, but wants for our child! Oh, Leese, you are making such good progress._

"It's a combination of you and me, Leese, so how could our baby not be gorgeous? He'll be the envy of the playground." He saw her frown at this and wondered what was wrong now. They'd been getting along so well and he didn't want it to end.

"He? What makes you so sure it's a boy? Did the baby contact you telepathically? What if it's a girl, Jack? Then you have just insulted the poor child before she's even born." He couldn't tell if she was joking or not, so he apologised slightly sarcastically, relieved when Lisa seemed to accept this. "We should probably get up now, if we want to go to the doctor today and settle this." She climbed out of bed, and Jackson kept his eyes on her until she disappeared into the bathroom. He went in after her and took a quick shower, and emerged to find Lisa in the hallway, fully dressed with her purse slung over her shoulder. He put an arm around her shoulders and walked her out to the car.

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Lisa tried not to show how nervous she was as she sat in the waiting room of the doctor's office. They'd run what seemed like hundreds of tests, and now she and Jackson were waiting for the results. They'd learned that the gender could not actually be determined for another few months, but had seen some very early ultrasounds, which prompted Jackson to comment that the baby looked like an alien, earning him a kick in the shins. She was nervous enough without being told by her own husband that this creature growing inside her looked like ET.

Finally, the doctor came out, reporting that everything was normal and healthy and making an appointment for Lisa's next check-up. She heard Jackson sigh audibly with relief at hearing that everything would be okay, and felt a little bad for kicking him. _He was probably just nervous. Lots of people make bad jokes when they're nervous, I just never figured he would be one of them. Poor Jack. _Lisa suddenly realised exactly what she had just thought. _Poor him? Poor me! I'm the one stuck having this baby, and being married to him, and not having any option to leave. But then again, I haven't been trying too hard to get away lately either. In fact, last night I let him make love to me, and didn't argue or tell him I didn't want to… in fact, I enjoyed it. So I guess I have no right to complain, even mentally… _Her internal argument was cut off by Jackson taking her hand.

"Leese, you ready to go?" She nodded dumbly "We can pick up some lunch on the way home if you want. Is everything okay?" He looked worried, and she quickly reassured him that she was fine, and that she probably just needed to eat something and she'd be better. They headed out, and later, sitting in a booth at the back of a diner, he asked her again if she was okay. She decided to just tell him, if only to get him to stop bothering her about it and asking if she was alright.

"It's just that I'm stressed, and I'm worried about the baby, and myself, and things have been kind of hectic at work, and now it's just sinking in that I actually married you after you killed four people I really respected, threatened my father and I, kidnapped me, and drugged me so I'd sleep with you, then got me pregnant."

"I thought we were past this, honey? And besides, from how you were reacting last night, I would say marriage to me isn't _that _bad." She glared at him, but he continued before she could interrupt him. "Besides, we've got a deal, so really your only option is to get used to it. Of course, minor adjustments can be made. Work is stressing you? Just quit like I've been telling you to. Upset about my past? Just focus on how things have been recently, and how they're going to be between us. Then you can stay home, and take care of yourself and the baby in peace. Sound good? I hope so, because it's the best I can do." For all the tender feelings she'd had toward him recently, at that moment she hated him. Hated the way he tried to control her, and the way he would make decisions that were really meant to be made by both of them, then just informed her that things were going to happen because he said so.

She just sat and glowered at him for the rest of their meal, then leaned sullenly against the window of the car on the ride home. _How symbolic. Whenever we go anywhere, he never lets me drive. Doesn't trust me at all. _As soon as they got home, she stormed into their bedroom and slammed the door, locking it and hoping he did not have the strength to break it down, as the sheer lack of ability would be the only thing stopping him from getting in. She remembered that morning in her father's house, hiding in the bathroom and praying that the locks would hold and Jackson would be unable to get to her. When she was finally satisfied that he was not trying to get in, she lay down on the bed and cried, letting all the emotions of the past few days come out as she just sobbed into her pillow. This went on for about a half hour before she stopped herself. _This is just what he wants. You're vulnerable, you're weak, and you're sitting alone crying because there's nothing you can do about anything. Come on, pull yourself together. Everything is going to be okay. _


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: Still not mine, and I have run out of clever things to say regarding this.

Yay, the comparisons to the movie were actually picked up!

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By the time Lisa finally pulled herself together enough to leave the bedroom and go downstairs, she was hungry, and tried to find a way to tell Jackson that she didn't feel like cooking and wanted him to do it without inciting a fit of rage. She found him lying on the couch reading, and cleared her throat to get his attention as she entered the room.

"You done with your little hissy fit, Leese?" His condescending tone made her anger at him flare up again, but she forced herself to regain control- the last thing she wanted was to ruin any chance of him doing her favours. An idea struck her, and at first she hated herself for even thinking it, but finally swallowed her pride.

"It was probably just a mood swing, Jackson. Hormones do that." She saw his expression soften a bit, and lowered herself onto the couch next to him. "But I'm feeling a little better now, and was wondering if you could make dinner tonight? I really just feel like resting, and I know you're a really good cook, so would you mind?" She had figured that stroking his ego was the best way to get what she wanted, and that seemed to be correct, as he thought a moment, then agreed. She took his spot on the sofa when he got up, and once he'd left the room she looked at his book. It was a guide for expectant fathers on how to help one's significant other through a pregnancy and birth, and tips on caring for an infant. _Well, got to give him credit for trying. But I'm guessing 'make spouse feel completely dominated till she locks herself in a room and cries' is not advice this would give. He needs to get better at actually acting on the stuff he knows. _

She decided to take her mind off everything that was going on, and considered calling her father, but he'd want to know how things were with Jackson, and she knew he would not take it well if she vented about their problems or how controlled she was feeling. He would want her to come stay with him until she calmed down, and she doubted that Jackson would take well to the idea of her having a sleepover at her father's house. Lisa settled on just watching TV until dinner was ready, and settled on a Lifetime network movie. Only here could she find a story more screwed up then her own, and the laughable plotting and acting would provide some amusement.

When the movie was over, she went to go check on Jackson in the kitchen. He had a pot or pan on every burner on the stove, and there was something in the oven, making the room smell wonderful. She hated to admit it, but Jackson could do amazing things with food, and she always trusted him to make her something good.

"Need any help?" He turned around to face her, and for a moment he looked startled that he hadn't noticed her coming in.

"Not really, but do you want to taste this and tell me what you think?" She walked over and he offered her a ladle with some kind of dark sauce on it. It smelled delicious, and tasted like red wine and onions. "Figured I'd get you started on French food before we went away. You like it?" She nodded and handed the spoon back to him, then went to set the table. Even when she'd lived by herself, Lisa had always made sure her table looked nice, finding that she felt better about herself when her home was in order.

As Jackson put food on the table, she realised that he'd been making sure that their meals were much more balanced and that they were eating healthier foods since he'd found out she was pregnant. _Trying to take care of me. Physically, he does a good job; it's the emotional abuse we have to work on. _They ate in an awkward silence, both just looking down at their plates. Lisa wanted to start some kind of conversation, but couldn't think of anything to say to him, so the only words exchanged during their mealtime were when Jackson went to clear the table and asked if she was done, and when she'd asked if he wanted help with the dishes.

The silence continued as they both went to sit on the couch and relax for a while after dinner, and Lisa heard him sigh lightly after a few minutes of silent sitting. _Maybe he wants to talk too. We just really don't have a lot to talk about. Work is out of the question, as he'll either ask me to quit my job or tell me to stop asking about his, and I don't know if he has hobbies, so we can't talk about that. _She shifted slightly, trying to get comfortable, and Jackson jumped on the opportunity for anything to talk about.

"You okay? I was reading about how uncomfortable some of the stuff that's happening to you is, and if you ever want help with something, let me know." She looked up at him, curious.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you wanted me to rub your back or feet or if you need to rest or nap in the middle of the day, just let me know, and I'll make sure you get whatever you need to keep you comfortable." She wondered if he was serious, and after a few minutes of silent thought, decided to test his offer. She pulled her legs up onto the couch, then stretched them so her feet rested on his lap. He paused for a moment, then began to gently massage her feet, giving her a small smile that showed that he knew she was testing him and was not above playing along for a while.

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Jackson had never been a hugging, touching sort of person, but was finding lately that he enjoyed finding little excuses to touch Lisa, even just by tapping her shoulder to get her attention instead of calling her. This was the reason he gave in and gave her a foot rub, and the little sighs and moans she was making kept him going. He loved that he could give her this much pleasure with so little effort, and that he could do so without making her uncomfortable or making her feel like he was using her. He knew that she thought he was intimidating and domineering, but wanted her to realise that he did care about her and only acted the way he did to do what he thought was best for her. Alas, this did not tend to correspond with her ideas of what was best for herself.

They stayed like that for a while, until Lisa started to drowse against the armrest of the couch, and Jackson decided it was time for her to go to bed. She was exhausted, which worked slightly in his favour as she did not object to being picked up and carried to their bedroom. Remembering a problem from one of their first nights together, Jackson asked if she minded him changing her into pyjamas, and got a sleepy 'go ahead.' As he undressed her, he marvelled at how perfect her skin was. Even her scar had a way of looking like art, and while he was sure she disagreed, he thought it added to her beauty. He finished slipping her nightgown onto her trim figure, then tucked her into bed, giving her a light kiss before shutting the lights and heading back downstairs.

He went back to the living room and picked up his book, determined to slog through it and learn good ways to keep Lisa happy and comfortable in the coming months. He could tell that what she felt for him now was not strong, passionate love like he had for her, but there was definitely something there, and with the right amount of patience and affection, he hoped to turn it into love. _Like that old saying: treat a woman like a person, then a princess, then a Greek goddess, then a person again. Well, we're in goddess phase now, so I hope she appreciates the attention. She'll see- I'll treat her well, and be a good husband and a good father to our baby, keep us living in luxury- eventually, she's got to give in. And when she does, well, I don't know. 'Happily ever after' is a bit cliché, but I'll make sure our little family has a good life. _

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Sort of fluffy, I know, but next chapter is set a few months ahead, and it doesn't really make sense to leave off with them fighting and then have them be arguing over the same thing after so much time has passed. Although one never knows with these two…


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: Still not mine, and I have run out of clever things to say regarding this.

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Jackson stood quietly in the doorway, hoping Lisa wouldn't notice his presence. He loved how peaceful she looked when she had time to just sit by herself, and was enjoying just watching her read with her book propped on her now-protruding belly. She'd been annoyed when she'd first started to gain weight, but in the past couple of months had found little ways to either work around it or make it useful, like her current position. She'd slowly settled in to married life, and now, after six months of marriage and pregnancy, they'd gotten a routine going, and had learned quite a bit about each other, making life easier for all involved.

Knowing each other's little tics and mannerisms proved invaluable to preventing arguments and keeping general peace and order in the house. Lisa had learned that Jackson's body seemed to hold a lot of tension in his shoulders, and that his posture was a good indicator of when not to irritate him because of this. Also, Jackson had figured out that Lisa got into a bad mood if she didn't see her father once every couple of weeks, and made sure she always had time to pop over to Blossom Palms Lane for an afternoon. Joe had reluctantly accepted Jackson as a member of the family, and did his best to be polite and friendly when he was around, but Jackson could tell how awkward it was and tried to avoid the man as much as possible. Lisa clicked much better with his family than he did with hers, though, and she and Sarah had become close lately, which was a relief, as a disagreement between such strong-willed women could never end well.

Lisa had also become friendlier with him, starting to open up about hobbies, favourite books and movies, and stories about her childhood. He was happy that she had such good memories, but also felt a pang of jealousy whenever she talked about family vacations or games or even just having dinner together. His family had never done anything like that, and he wished (not for the first time) that he could have had any other set of parents. He tried to think of things to tell her about himself, but had trouble coming up with things that were not either depressing or disturbing, so mostly he told her about college. He'd gone on a scholarship, been able to leave the aunt he'd been staying with since his parents' deaths, and for four wonderful years, had been able to just be a normal young adult. All that had changed when he'd graduated and gotten a job, but he treasured his memories of that little time of happiness. He told her everything he could remember, and she seemed eager to learn anything she could about him.

Lisa's unending curiosity about everyone and everything had inspired him to get all his books from the house they'd been in before and move them to their new home, and the way her face lit up at the sight of the library he'd created for her had made the hauling of all those boxes of books worth it. She was reading one of those books now, and in his effort to see which one it was, he leaned into her light, causing her to look up from her book to see what he wanted.

"Everything okay? I thought you had paperwork to do." She hated talking about his job, and referred to anything he brought home generically, as if by not mentioning that he was upstairs plotting how to best kill someone, she could change the fact.

"Yeah, everything's fine, I just wanted to check on you, make sure you didn't need anything." He noticed Lisa's sudden look of discomfort and gently placed a hand on her belly. "Is the baby still doing somersaults? You're going to be relieved when he's outta there." He had been overjoyed the first time he'd been able to feel the baby move, and although it obviously pained Lisa, he couldn't help loving being able to feel his baby moving around, kicking strongly.

Lisa made a face at him. She still hated when he used male pronouns for the child, as they still weren't sure if it was a boy or a girl. They'd be finding out the next day at the doctor's, and Jackson was relieved that the mini-battles would finally be over. Lisa would just have to acknowledge her son as a boy, and start decorating his room as such. She'd been working in greens and yellows so far, and it looked nice, but it was still hard to get toys, clothes, and furniture without knowing the gender. Sheer hope had Jackson so convinced the child was male, and he still had no idea what he'd do on the off-chance it _was_ a girl. He was completely ready to play catch and go to little league games and play with toy trucks with his kid, but the idea of tea parties with stuffed animals and Barbies was completely foreign to him, and the idea was scary. He consoled himself with thoughts that it was a boy, and he wouldn't need to worry about those things.

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Lisa winced as the baby twisted again, causing a feeling she had never experienced before the pregnancy and hoped she would never experience again. She felt Jackson's cool hand resting on her, and tried to focus on him rather than the pain. He got very quiet whenever he was feeling the baby kick, and she could tell he was thinking deeply about everything that was going on from the way he tuned out the rest of the world. She had found him to be much more sentimental than he usually let on, and it was an endearing quality. He also had a lot of foresight about what different decisions would mean in the long term, which had made him a bit paranoid about the naming issue. He had stated flat-out that there would be no naming the child anything that could be shortened to 'Jack,' because he refused to allow his child to be bullied about their name like he had. Lisa had not said so to him, but it was difficult to find _any _name that could sound pleasant with 'Rippner,' but agreed that variants on Jack were out. There was also the issue of Jackson being convinced that the baby was a boy. It annoyed her to no end, and the passive-aggressive side of her took great joy in watching him tense up when she asked him about girl names. Honestly, Lisa didn't care one way or the other, but found herself leaning towards wanting a girl just because of Jackson's use of 'he' and referring to 'my son.' _Ah, well. We'll know soon enough. Hopefully I get a 'told-you-so' moment- that would be priceless._

For all the progress they'd made, some things about him still drove her crazy, like his stubborn refusal to accept that he might be wrong, and his insistence on finding little ways to remind her that he was in charge, like just leaving things around until she cleaned up after him. She knew from experience that he could be neat as a pin when he wanted too, and did this solely to make her feel like she was his maid. She'd confronted him about it, and with the screaming match that ensued, it was a miracle the neighbours hadn't called the police. She'd finally just stopped doing chores that should have been his, and by the time he caught on the house was a pigsty and his laundry basket was overflowing onto the floor. He'd been pissed at her, but had eventually cleaned up. His insistence on proving his manliness did work in her favour, though, as she'd never once been asked to put up storm windows or clear the leaves out of the gutters. Pretty much any manual, outdoor-labour sort of thing was his job, and she did not object. So, at the end of the day, they both felt like they had one the silent battle for dominance.

They had ended up just sitting together for a while, both lost in thought, until finally Jackson broke the silence.

"We've got an early morning tomorrow; we should probably head up to bed." Lisa just groaned slightly, feeling too exhausted to pull herself off the couch, but knowing that there was no way Jackson could carry her in her current state. He was strong, but not that strong. He did help her up, though, and she leaned on him going up the stairs until they reached their bedroom. She fell asleep quickly, relaxing into Jackson's warm embrace and wondering how in the space of six months she could go from finding it smothering to being comforted by it.

Lisa had off from work the next day, and Jackson had taken the morning off to bring her to the doctor. She had no idea how assassin's system of days off worked, but didn't care to ask and just focused on the fact that her husband was with her for her appointment. They could finally settle the gender issue today, and Lisa had promised herself that she wouldn't gloat if he had been wrong and it was a girl, but had also made a goal to not give in to temptation and kick him if it was a boy and he was obnoxious about it. She noticed that he was very tense, and felt bad for him. He always got nervous before her appointments, worrying about her and the baby, but he got very defensive if she asked if he was alright, so she just let him deal with it however he wanted to.

On the ride home, Lisa mentally replayed the whole visit. Jackson had held her hand tightly, putting all his nervous energy into his grip. She'd shared the feeling, and they'd both relaxed significantly on hearing that everything was alright with Lisa and the baby. Then the doctor had finally settled months and months of arguments, and Lisa had managed not to cackle like a hyena upon hearing that their child was definitely a girl, and watching all colour drain from Jackson's face at the news. He still seemed to be in shock a little, and Lisa couldn't help teasing him.

"So what was your mother's name? Or your grandmother's? I want our daughter's name to be something special." She saw him swallow deeply, trying to resist the urge to smack her for taunting him, then he coolly replied.

"We could name her Henrietta. Nothing has quite the same ring to it as 'Henrietta Rippner.'" Lisa felt a surge of anger at him for connecting her beloved grandmother to himself, but reminded herself that he probably didn't mean it like that. They sat in rather awkward silence for the rest of the trip, and Lisa hoped this wasn't the start of a trend. When they'd gotten home and found a movie to put on, Jackson pulled Lisa against him on the couch and put his arms loosely around her, hands resting on her stomach.

"My girls." he murmured softly. "I know she'll be beautiful like her mother, eh, Leese?" She felt herself blush, and was stammering for something to say when he cut her off with a kiss and then turned his attention to the TV. Lisa settled into his arms and leaned against his shoulder, glad that he was adjusting to the idea of their daughter.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: Still not mine, and I have run out of clever things to say regarding this.

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Lisa smiled as she looked around the bright, well-decorated nursery. In just a few short months, she'd convinced Jackson to quit griping and paint the room pink, then picked out decorations to match and had created a beautiful room fit for a princess. That was already the nickname Jackson has assigned their daughter, and Lisa didn't mind it at all. She liked being able to make a nice space for her daughter, and the fact that Jackson felt he was too manly to take part in the decorating meant that she had long spaces of time to herself. They'd been getting along alright, but she still didn't exactly jump at the opportunity to spend extended periods of time with him.

_We need to work on that. I don't want to have to explain to our baby why Mommy and Daddy never want to be near each other and don't seem to actually have feelings for each other. _Actually, that was not completely true. Jackson had his own little ways of showing how he felt about her, but that usually amounted to just holding her while they watched TV or slept, nothing overly romantic. _That's your fault. _It was, somewhat, as she had refused to respond to his early attempts to be romantic. She had been upset with him after the fight they'd had the day after they got married, and her resolve to make his life miserable until he released her had become much stronger. She had pushed him away when he tried to get close to her and made sure she did not respond at all when he kissed her. The one time he'd tried to convince her to have sex again, he'd ended up spending the night trying to get over the pain from where she'd kneed him. Now her coldness towards him served more as a reminder that he would not be allowed to dominate her than a desire to leave. He still was somewhat affectionate with her, but had either gotten over his passion for her or learned to hide it well.

She had finished all the actual decorating and now just sat in her rocking chair admiring her work and making plans for her baby. She'd been trying to choose a name, but hadn't settled on anything yet, realising that the child would be stuck with this name for her whole life and not wanting to make a bad choice. Jackson had been of little help, ad he seemed to have no opinions on the subject. Lisa knew she didn't want to name the child after any of her relatives, as she didn't want to connect them to Jackson and his cruel-sounding last name. Then a thought struck her. _That day in the car, when I asked about his mother or grandmother's names, he never answered me. Well, I'm going to make him give me an answer. _She went downstairs as quickly as her now-eight-and-a-half-months belly would allow, and found Jackson making notes on a file that he quickly stuck into his nearby briefcase as she entered. _Ah, his work. The bane of my existence. _

"Jackson, I was wondering if you could help me out with something." She slid next to him on the couch, and noticed that he looked suspicious. _Always gets that look when I'm affectionate with him. He must know I want something he's not going to like. _

"What do you need, Leese?" He sounded stressed, and she wondered if this had been a bad time to ask him.

"I was thinking about names for our baby, and I was wondering what some of your family's names were. You know, so we could keep a tradition going." _That didn't sound too bad- he shouldn't get defensive._

"My mother's name was Ellen, my niece is named after her. Sarah was very close with our mother, and wanted to honour her. I do not feel the same way." Lisa wondered, not for the first time, if Sarah knew that her brother had killed their parents. "My grandmothers' names were Lilly and Irene. Anything else you want to know?"

"Were you close to either of your grandmothers? You must have had a favourite relative growing up- every kid does." She tried to imagine Jackson as a child, being doted on by his loving grandparents, but somehow her brain could not make the connection between her husband and the little boy she'd seen in photo albums. He'd looked so… normal, and definitely would not be the kid she'd pick out as a future assassin.

"I used to stay with my grandparents all the time. When Dad was in a bad mood or had been drinking, Mom would send us to her parents- that's Lilly and Peter- so Sarah and I didn't have to see him in that state. She was-" He stopped suddenly, shaking his head, and went to get up before Lisa grabbed his hand and held him back.

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Jackson was horrified that he'd told Lisa so much personal information, and immediately tried to get away from the situation, but she pulled him back down beside her on the couch.

"Leese, I- I'm sorry. You've got enough going on without needing to be burdened by my life story."

"No, Jackson, I want to hear it. I want to know why you are the way you are." He had no idea why, but he just felt in that moment like he could trust her implicitly, and told her everything. Everything about his father and mother and being bullied at school and how he'd snapped and killed his parents and his sister's rape and how he'd tracked the guy down and killed him and how scared he was that something would happen to his daughter and how all he wanted was a normal life, and by the time he was finished he was completely drained emotionally, and was just leaning on Lisa and crying. She had never seen him cry before, and seemed unsure of what to do, so she just held him and let him weep until he pulled himself together.

"Lisa, there's something I need to tell you." He knew he'd already bombarded her with information, but had to get this out. "The guy who attacked my sister- the one I killed- he was the guy from the parking lot. The one who gave you this." He traced a finger along her scar, watching as her eyes filled up with tears. "I just want you to know that I got him, and he's never going to hurt anyone again." She didn't respond, just held him tightly as they both sat in silence, processing what had just happened. They finally went up to bed and just held each other until they fell peacefully asleep.


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: Still not mine, and I have run out of clever things to say regarding this.

Next chapter will probably be the last, but fear not, dear readers, I have a new idea for J/L goodness that I will start immeditely after.

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Jackson had woken up in the middle of the night and after giving up on getting back to sleep, he just lay in bed and tried to imagine what his life was going to be like once the baby was born. He had read a ton of books on parenting, but still doubted that he would be an ideal father, or even a decent one. He'd never even had a goldfish before, so he had no notion of needing to take care of something, and a baby was probably a bad thing to start with. _But Lisa will be there to help me, and maternal instinct should make up for experience in her case, right? Women just _know_ how to care for a baby. _

He looked at his sleeping wife and tried to imagine her as a mother. The fact that he and Lisa would be parents was taking a long time to sink into his brain, and he hoped they were up for the job. _She'll be good at it. She's made a career out of figuring out what people want and getting it to them, isn't that essentially what parenting is? Only then, you actually know and care about the person you're helping. _

He noticed that Lisa was shifting a lot in her sleep, and wondered why the baby was always so active when she was trying to rest. _Ah, a true Rippner. Not even born and she's causing problems for everybody. _He thought he heard Lisa groan slightly, and gently patted her swollen belly, hoping to reassure her that everything was okay.

"Jackson?" He'd definitely heard that. What was she doing up? Had the baby moving around woken her up?

"What's the matter, Leese? Is everything okay?" He was worried, as Lisa had been sleeping well lately, and it was unlike her to be awake at this hour.

"Jackson, I've been getting really bad pains- I think the baby might be coming." He immediately jumped out of bed and scrambled for his clothes, panicked.

"Why didn't you tell me the minute you felt it? Come on, get up, I'll get you to the hospital." She hauled herself out of bed and looked for something to wear, wincing in pain every few minutes. By the time they were both dressed and in the car, she was sure that she was going into labour. "Leese, try to keep track of how frequent the contractions are, that'll help the doctor." He drove as quickly as possible to the hospital, and was relived when Lisa was finally settled in a room with a doctor asking her all sorts of questions about how long she'd been pregnant and what the current pains felt like. Jackson could barely hear her responses, as he was focusing all his energy on calming himself down. _Lisa's got to be terrified now, I need to calm down for her sake. I should be just holding her hand and supporting her, not needing to do Lamaze breathing for myself. Oh, God, please let her and the baby be okay. _

Lisa stayed in pretty much the same condition for a while, and at one point told Jackson to go call her dad and tell him what was happening. He'd been reluctant to leave her, but she'd begged him to go make the call and eventually he obeyed. By the time Joe arrived in the waiting room, Lisa's contractions had gotten closer together and more intense, and the doctor had come in to actually deliver the baby. Jackson felt Lisa squeezing his hand with all her strength, and fought the urge to pull back, knowing that she needed him more than he needed to be comfortable. _Just man up and deal with it. It's your job to be strong for your wife, not to ditch her because of a few crushed fingers and… oh my God, I've never seen someone bleed so much naturally. Poor Leese, she must be in agony. And she's doing it all for me. Well, me and the baby, but she's having the baby for me. _Jackson pulled himself together and coached Lisa through her breathing, doing a good job at hiding the panic from his voice and facial expressions.

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Lisa had never felt pain like this before in her entire life. She had completely given up on doing this without medication, and was relived as the doctor gave her an epidural, finally easing some of the pain. She slightly relaxed her grip on Jackson's hand, and gave him a weak smile. He clearly wanted to be anywhere but here, but was sticking it out with her and not fleeing to the waiting room to go sit with her father. He was trying hard to do what he was supposed to and help her stay calm and breathe deeply, but his panic showed through quite clearly. Even as he spoke to her, reminding her that millions of women did this every day and that she'd be fine, he sounded more like he was convincing himself than her.

After hours that seemed like years, the doctor announced that the head was starting to show, and Jackson went, looked, and then returned to his seat next to Lisa, obviously disgusted but trying to hide it. She giggled a little at his near-green complexion, but her mirth was cut off by the doctor instructing her to push. She obeyed, and even with the drugs, felt a slight pain as she tried to force the child from her body. Jackson and the doctor were both encouraging her, and she tried to just put all her energy into delivering this baby. Finally, she gave one last push and the doctor announced that the child was a girl over the baby's cries, and called Jackson over to cut the umbilical cord. He did, and Lisa could see the pride on his face as he looked at his beautiful daughter. As the doctor cleaned the child off and tested her heart rate, Jackson leaned down and kissed Lisa's forehead, gently stroking her hair off her sweaty brow.

"Sweetheart, she's beautiful. Really just amazing- I love you both so much." She saw that his eyes were glistening with tears, and found that her own matched soon after the baby was pronounced healthy and placed in her arms. She held her child close, and sighed as the baby stopped crying in her arms.

"Mommy's got you, it's okay." She cooed as she rocked the tiny body in her arms, feeling her daughter settling down. The baby looked up at her, and Lisa turned to Jackson. "She does have your eyes, honey, look." Lisa smiled as the two pairs of bright blue eyes locked on each other, father and daughter sharing their first bonding moment. "Lilly Sarah Rippner. She's absolutely perfect." Jackson looked up at her upon hearing the name, cocking his head slightly.

"My grandmother and my sister? Is that really what you want to call her?" She heard the little bit of hope in his voice.

"Do you? Because I think it's a beautiful name." He nodded, and as Lisa hummed softly to soothe little Lilly, she decided that she wouldn't tell Jackson the real reason she'd picked the middle name. His sister had been pure coincidence, as she had been thinking of Charles Keefe's young daughter, killed at the Lux Atlantic exactly one year before. It made her feel better to know she was honouring that family in some way, but Jackson didn't need to know that.

After a while of having their child all to themselves, Jackson went and got Joe from the waiting room, leading the man into the room and stepping out of the way as Joe went to kiss his daughter and meet his granddaughter. Lisa knew that her father would be a doting grandfather, and smiled at the way he instantly melted upon seeing the baby. She was proud of herself for having brought the little creature into the world, and could see the gleam in Jackson's eyes when he looked at her and knew he was proud to be a part of this too. She let her dad hold the baby for a little, and he stayed with them until Lisa started to yawn and said that she wanted her sleep after a long day. Once Joe had left the baby was placed in a bassinet and Jackson settled into a chair next to Lisa's bed, leaning forward and resting his head on her mattress. Lisa stroked his hair until she fell asleep, content that all was right with her world.


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: Still not mine, and I have run out of clever things to say regarding this.

This is the end of this fic, but let me know if you think it should stay as is or want a sequel- I'll write one if you'd want to read it.

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**Three Years Later**

Jackson rolled over slightly, trying to find a comfortable position on the floor where his daughter sat, colouring happily and humming a little tune she was making up as she went. He'd noticed that Lisa did the same thing when she was concentrating, and loved how many of his wife's endearing little traits had passed on to Lilly. He treasured these little moments where he could sit and bond with his little girl, making sure that she never knew the lonely childhood he had. Even when she'd been an infant, he'd made sure that he did as much as he could to help out with her, even getting up at two AM to change diapers and gently rock her back to sleep. He was thrilled when she started sleeping through the night, though, as it was much easier to be devoted to a child who did not wake him up at all hours, leaving him exhausted in the mornings.

"What are you drawing, honey?" He was fascinated by her replies whenever he asked that, wondering how what he was looking at corresponded to her description, but he always made sure he sounded enthusiastic and told her that her work was beautiful, wanting to encourage her creativity.

"It's a house, Daddy. See- here's the windows, and the door, and the chimney. And here's the extra room outside for Danny." Jackson suppressed a laugh as she pointed to what looked like a doghouse. His much hoped-for son had made both he and Lisa ecstatic, but Lilly was getting used to the idea of being a big sister, and was not fond of needing to share attention with the new baby. They both made sure that she was still getting a lot of attention, and when Lisa had been in the hospital having the child, Jackson had left Lilly with Sarah, who told her all about what it was like to have a baby brother, and shocked the girl by revealing that her Daddy had once been a baby too. He looked up and saw Lisa leaning against the doorframe.

"I hate to interrupt you two, but I need Daddy to make dinner tonight. Danny had me up all night and I really need to go rest now." He saw the fatigue on Lisa's face and hauled himself up from the floor, pushing his hair back from his eyes.

"Come on, sweetie, want to help out? I'll teach you to make something good so you don't end up eating scrambled eggs every day like Mommy." He smirked at Lisa, then picked up his laughing daughter and carried her into the kitchen.

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Lisa trotted upstairs and checked on her sleeping son before lying down herself. Jackson still didn't know it, but she had named their son after the other Keefe child, simply telling him that she liked the name. She hoped the naming of her children counted as some sort of apology for her part in what had happened to the Keefes. She thought about that night on the plane often, wondering how the man who had so mercilessly threatened her and beat her had become the loving, caring person who was currently downstairs playing with their daughter as he prepared a meal for their family.

She wasn't sure exactly why or how her feelings for him had changed, but there was something in his mannerisms that made her soften towards him, and finally, soon after the birth of their first child, Lisa had realised that she had fallen hopelessly in love with Jackson Rippner. She knew how odd it was to not fall in love with him until after he'd married her and fathered her baby, but they weren't exactly a normal couple to begin with, so it was fitting. She knew the precise moment she'd realised she loved him. They had been in bed, a few weeks after bringing Lilly home, and he'd just come back to bed from rocking their daughter to sleep in the middle of the night. He'd lay down and wrapped his arms around her, and let out a little sigh. There had been so much emotion in that one little breath, his love for her and their child expressed in it, and she'd known that she had the same feelings towards him. She'd told him right then and there how she felt, and for the first time since their wedding night, they'd made love. He was always gentle and tender with her, and she found that this extended to all areas of his life. He'd mellowed a lot from being around the children, and while he refused to give up his job, he had switched positions so that he could work exclusively from Miami.

Occasionally he would take them on trips to his home in Maine, and Lisa found that it was quite a comfortable place when she wasn't being held hostage there, and Lilly loved playing in the snow, and frequently asked when Danny would be old enough to play outside with her. She imagined her children, carefree and happy, romping in the snow, and the mental image brought a smile to her face.

Later, after kissing her daughter goodnight and feeding her son, Lisa climbed into bed, resting her head on the pillow and listening to Jackson reading a story to Lilly in the next room. For a man who had been quite disappointed when his firstborn was a girl, Jackson was quite good at reading fairy tales, making up voices for each character that never failed to make Lilly laugh. When he finished tucking her in, he walked as quietly as he could into his and Lisa's room, trying not to disturb the baby, who was asleep in his cradle next to the bed. He changed into his pyjamas and slipped into bed beside Lisa, giving her a kiss as he settled into his usual spot. He cuddled her close, and she relaxed into his arms, revelling in the warm, protective embrace. And, after years of trying to set up a life for their family, Jackson and Lisa Rippner finally were able to just sleep contentedly, knowing that they and their children were safe and well.


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